A MARYLAND SEA GRANT BOOK The Eastern Oyster: Crassostrea virginica Victor S. Kennedy, Roger I.E. Newell and Albert F. Eble, Editors Book, 772 pages, hard cover, 8-1/2" x 11", 400 photographs, drawings and diagrams. UM-SG-TS-96-01. ISBN 0-943-676-61-4. Allow one month for delivery. Cost: New, lower price, $75.00 plus $4.50 state tax (Maryland residents only) and shipping and handling (rates) Selected Chapter Summaries and Illustrations Chapter 2. General Anatomy by Albert F. Eble and Robert Scro Download pdf (view with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader) (~560 kb)

Anatomy

Click here for larger image

Albert F. Eble and Robert Scro synthesize the scientific literature on the eastern oyster's general anatomy (Chapter 2), covering structures such as the mantle, gills, and labial palps as well as the functioning of the digestive, excretory, and reproductive systems. Eble draws extensively on his own unpublished studies. Subsequent chapters cover specific features of oyster anatomy in more detail, for example, Carol Morrison summarizes details on the structure and function of the adductor and mantle musculature (Chapter 4), and Albert Eble surveys the research (Chapter 7) on the heart and circulatory system.

Shell Structure

Click here for larger image

Melbourne Carriker's comprehensive synthesis of the shell structure of the larval, juvenile, and adult eastern oyster begins with Galtsoff's findings in The American Oyster ; he then covers the last three decades of scientific literature on the ontogeny of form, structure, microstructure, biomineralogy, biochemistry, and physiology of shell and shell. The chapter includes 153 micrographs that derive from the author's many years of malacological research.

Diseases and Mechanisms of Defense

Click here for larger image

Few fields in oyster biology have progressed as rapidly in the last decade as studies in oyster diseases and disease mechanisms. Since the early twentieth century, when an outbreak of an unidentified disease led to massive mortalities of eastern oysters in Prince Edward Island, Canada, disease has been a major concern for the oyster industry and resource management. Since the late 1950s, diseases have been responsible for devastating oyster mortalities , particularly in Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay. Susan Ford and M.R. Tripp (Chapter 17) describe the major infectious diseases of the eastern oysters -- Juvenile Oyster Disease and Dermo, MSX, and SSO -- and the oyster's responses to them. They review the subject of defense mechanisms by describing interactions between cellular and humoral elements in oysters and a variety of biotic and abiotic agents.

The oyster's primary means of defense are hemocytes that are found in hemolymph, the oyster's circulatory fluid. Thomas Cheng (Chapter 8) surveys our understanding of hemocytic processes.