Higher Classification: > Kingdom Animalia > Subkingdom Eumetazoa > Phylum Mollusca > Class Bivalvia > Subclass Autobranchia > Infraclass Pteriomorphia > Order Ostreida > Superfamily Ostreoidea > Family Ostreidae > Subfamily Crassostreinae > Genus Crassostrea

Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791)

Rank: Species
Taxon Status: accepted

Relationships towards this taxon

Genus group names

*Crassostrea*	Sacco, 1897	accepted genus name
*Gryphaea*	Lamarck, 1801 sensu Ranson, 1955	synonym
*Ostrea (Crassostrea)*	Sacco, 1897	synonym

Species group names

*Ostrea virginica*	Gmelin, 1791	synonym

Vernaculars (+) (-)

Dutch: Amerikaanse oester; Noord-Amerikaanse oester sources: de Bruyne, R.H.; Bank, R.A.; Adema, J.P.H.M.; Perk, F.A. (1994). Nederlandse naamlijst van de weekdieren (Mollusca) van Nederland en Belgie: feestuitgave ter gelegenheid van het zestig-jarig jubileum van de Nederlandse Malacologische Vereniging [Dutch namelist of the Mollusca from the Netherlands and Belgium: festive edition at the occasion of the 60-year jubilee of the Dutch Malacological Society]. Backhuys Publishers: Leiden, The Netherlands. ISBN 90-73348-33-1. 149 pp.;VLIZ. (2016). Wetenschappelijke en handelsbenamingen voor visserij- en aquacultuurproducten op de Belgische markt. VLIZ Beleidsinformerende Nota's, BIN 2016_001. Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Oostende. 28 + Annex. pp.

English: American cupped oyster; American oyster; blue point oyster; eastern oyster sources: VLIZ. (2016). Wetenschappelijke en handelsbenamingen voor visserij- en aquacultuurproducten op de Belgische markt. VLIZ Beleidsinformerende Nota's, BIN 2016_001. Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Oostende. 28 + Annex. pp.;Davidson, A. (2001). North Atlantic fish cookbook [Noord-Atlantisch viskookboek]. Scepter: Bussum, The Netherlands. ISBN 90-72653-14-9. 556 pp.;Cole, T. C. H. (2017). Wörterbuch der Wirbellosen / Dictionary of Invertebrates. Latein-Deutsch-English. 2017. Springer Spektrum: Berlin. ISBN 978-3-662-52869-3. XII, 574 pp.;North-West Atlantic Ocean species (NWARMS)

French: huître creuse américaine sources: VLIZ. (2016). Wetenschappelijke en handelsbenamingen voor visserij- en aquacultuurproducten op de Belgische markt. VLIZ Beleidsinformerende Nota's, BIN 2016_001. Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Oostende. 28 + Annex. pp.

German: Amerikanische Auster

Literature

basis of record	Amaral V.S. do & Simone L.R.L. (2014) Revision of genus Crassostrea (Bivalvia: Ostreidae) of Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 94(4): 811–836. [Published online 19 February 2014; Code-compliant paper version published June 2014]
basis of record	Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca. in: Costello, M.J. et al. (eds), European Register of Marine Species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. 50: 180-213.
additional source	Ogle, J. (1976). The occurrence of the date mussel, Lithophaga bisulcata (Mytilidae) in living oysters off Galveston, Texas. The Nautilus. 90(2): 74-76, figs. 1-2.
additional source	Margolis, S. V. & Carver, R. E. (1974). Microsculpture of chalky deposits found in shells of the oyster Crassostrea virginica. The Nautilus. 88(2): 62-65, fig. 1.
additional source	Brunel, P., L. Bosse & G. Lamarche. (1998). Catalogue of the marine invertebrates of the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 126. 405 pp.
additional source	Huber, M. (2010). Compendium of bivalves. A full-color guide to 3,300 of the world's marine bivalves. A status on Bivalvia after 250 years of research. Hackenheim: ConchBooks. 901 pp., 1 CD-ROM.
additional source	Streftaris, N., A. Zenetos & E. Papathanassiou. (2005). Globalisation in marine ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species across European seas. Oceanogry and Marine Biology: an Annual Review. 43: 419-453.
additional source	de Kluijver, M. J.; Ingalsuo, S. S.; de Bruyne, R. H. (2000). Macrobenthos of the North Sea [CD-ROM]: 1. Keys to Mollusca and Brachiopoda. World Biodiversity Database CD-ROM Series. Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification (ETI): Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ISBN 3-540-14706-3. 1 cd-rom.
additional source	Turgeon, D. D., W. G. Lyons, P. Mikkelsen, G. Rosenberg, and F. Moretzsohn. 2009. Bivalvia (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 711–744 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, Colleg
additional source	Gunter, G. & Menzel, R. W. (1957). The crown conch, Melongena corona, as a predator upon the Virginia oyster. The Nautilus. 70(3): 84-87.
additional source	Winkley, H. W. (1904). A distorted oyster. The Nautilus. 18(2): 24.
additional source	Bierbaum, V. M. (1964). Oyster chromatogram. The Nautilus. 78(3): 64-65.
additional source	Durve, V. S. (1975). On the specificity of Madras backwater oyster Crassostrea madrasensis Preston and the American oyster Crassostrea virginica Gmelin. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 71(2): 226-234.
biology source	Tepolt, C. K. (2014). Adaptation in marine invasion: a genetic perspective. Biological Invasions. 17(3): 887-903.

Genbank

External Links

Marine Life Information Network - UK

Citation

MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791). Via: Costello, M.J.; Bouchet, P.; Boxshall, G.; Arvantidis, C.; Appeltans, W. (2011) European Register of Marine Species, Accessed through PESI at http://www.eu-nomen.eu/portal/taxon.php?GUID=urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:140657