Look up to see how watermen once fished the oyster beds of the Chesapeake - tonging was nothing short of back-breaking! The aquarium is close to the ground for our smaller guests to easily come within inches of blennies guarding egg masses carefully deposited in the opened shells of an oyster that has died. These were paired with their original second half, then painstakingly glued into place in the exhibit to recreate the dense, three-dimensional replica of what an oyster reef really looks like in the wild. The oyster reef at the Calvert Marine Museum was constructed from oyster shell recovered from local restaurants. Larger animals come here for food while smaller animals find safety by escaping into the reef's interior. Other things attach to oysters too - sea whips, red beard sponge, barnacles, sea squirts, anemones, algae. To ensure the best chance for survival, larvae seek the shell of another oyster to settle on - what better place to live than where another oyster is thriving! Over time, this leads to formation of dense oyster beds as generation after generation of oyster grow on one another. As larva, an oyster is mobile and will search for a place to become attached to live out its remaining life. The bay is home to the world-renowned eastern or Atlantic oyster, once referred to as "Chesapeake white gold" as many made their fortunes on the collection, packing and international sale of this delicacy. The tropics are not the only places in the world with true reefs.
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