Mrs. Armstrong's Blog

This week the 7th Age scientists learned about oysters. We observed a special kind of oyster, the Easten Oyster. Eastern Oysters live in the Chesapeake Bay. We observed the inside and outside of the oyster with a hand lens, and even felt them with our fingers! Some describing words for the outside of an oyster included:
hard
bumpy
rough

Some describing words for the inside of an oyster included:
squishy
tan-colored
gooey
slimy

We measured our oysters to make sure they were a legal size. The legal size for an oyster is 3 inches. All of our oysters measured AT LEAST 3 inches in length- phew!

We also watched a video of oysters filter-feeding, and learned that oysters are the "lifeguards" of the bay! This is because they constantly rid the water of waste, ultimately cleaning it. One single oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day! A long time ago when oysters were more prevalent, they could clean the Bay in just a week! Now the same task takes a year.

We enjoyed observing the oysters, and are looking forward to our crab dissection in a week!

Nice job, scientists!