Common oyster
Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791)
Status not recordedmolluscs
The common oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is a species in the family Ostreidae, order Ostreida.
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Quick facts about the common oyster
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the common oyster live?
Not recorded
Is the common oyster endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the common oyster classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumMollusca
- classBivalvia
- orderOstreida
- familyOstreidae
- genusCrassostrea
- SpeciesCrassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791)
Synonyms Crassostrea floridensis, Crassostrea virginica, Dioeciostrea americana, Lopha gibsonsmithi, Ostraea floridensis, Ostraea reniformis, Ostrea borealis, Ostrea canadensis, Ostrea floridensis, Ostrea mauricensis, Ostrea procyon, Ostrea reniformis, Ostrea triangularis, Ostrea virginiana, Ostrea virginiana var. procyon, Ostrea virginica
Other names and names in other languages (25)
- American cupped oysterEnglish
- American oysterEnglish
- Blue point oysterEnglish
- Eastern cupped oysterEnglish
- Eastern oysterEnglish
- ostra americanaAsturian
- ústřice viržinskáCzech
- Amerikanische AusterGerman
- ostión virgínicoSpanish
- huître américaineFrench
- Ostrica americanaItalian
- アメリカガキJapanese
- Amerikaanse oesterDutch
- ostryżyca amerykańskaPolish
- Ostra-americanaPortuguese
- Восточная устрицаRussian
- ustrica virgínskaSlovak
- amerikanskt ostronSwedish
- Ostión de VirginiaSpanish
- Ostión del AltánticoSpanish
- huître creuse américaineFrench
- Noord-Amerikaanse oesterDutch
- Американская устрицаRussian
- Виргинская устрицаRussian
- Американская атлантическая устрицаRussian
Relatives of the common oyster
Other species in the same genus Crassostrea.
Oyster
Crassostrea rhizophorae
Cortez oyster
Crassostrea corteziensis
Mangrove oyster
Crassostrea tulipa
Cortez cupped oyster
Crassostrea columbiensis
CompareCommon oyster vs OysterCommon oyster vs Cortez oysterCommon oyster vs Mangrove oysterCommon oyster vs Cortez cupped oyster
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the common oyster?
The common oyster (Crassostrea virginica) belongs to the family Ostreidae in the order Ostreida.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common oyster (Crassostrea virginica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-oyster
“Common oyster (Crassostrea virginica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-oyster.
@misc{common_oyster_2026,
title = {Common oyster (Crassostrea virginica)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-oyster},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}