Scanderan giant oyster

Scanderan giant oyster
A picture of a recently shaved giant oyster
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Pterioida
Family:	Pteriidae
Genus:	Pinctada
Species:	P.Ostronus
Binomial name
Pinctada Ostronus Hylfred Görenssen, 1802
File:Clam habitation.png
Habitat

Pärlostron, silkesostron, hafsskatten, or pearl oysters, silk oysters, and the ocean treasure are all names that are used to describe the giant Scanderan oyster living in the western coast of Scandera. However despite the lack of proper ocean travel and trade due to the rocky nature of the ocean floor in the region and the large cliffs that dominates the shorelines all but uninterrupted from the south to the frozen north have there been a few cities established on this far off distant part of Scandera due to the harvest of these oysters and the industries around them and even today are the region known for it's silk and pearl industry. The animal is however very dependant on the region for survival and attempts to introduce them on the more shallow and less dangerous eastern seaboard have so far failed miserable due to numerous attempts, attempts have even been made to introduce them in innanhafet but the brackish water of the region has given it even less success than the west coast.

Etymology

The various Scanderan names generally makes references to what one can make from the oyster and it is in most languages refers to either giant oyster, pearl oyster, or silk oyster due to it's nature of being the only pearl and silk producing oyster in the Scanderan continent. In Latin can we once more thank Hylfrid Göranssen's lack of knowledge of the language and his love for pig Latin by simply adding -us to the end of the Imerian name or making a pun with a similar ending. In this case would the name translate into oysterus in English.

History

Historically have the oyster been very important for the local population of the coastal region of the far west, lacking much in the way of ocean going trade due to the lack of a shoreline and the rocky ocean floor so did they have to rely on trade through the land route through the Karmanjakan pass and way into the Erathian forests. Though since the rout were busy both north and to the south as furs, ivory, and animals were transported south while more processed items like glass, jewellery, weapons, and even tools were transported northwards while pearls and sea silk were transported both north and south. Historically were the silk of course restricted to the higher class due to it's expensive nature and even then were it rarely used due to it's thin nature on it's own but it were often combined with wool to make clothes of the upper classes and during times were it entirely forbidden for anyone but the royal household to wear white silk.

On it's own where it however also massively bellowed for armour and gambesons made from silk were said to be as good as even chainmail and able to deflect arrows without issue. However due to being seen as a more decadent southern value so were it outright outlawed in Karmanjaka to the north of the area where it was traditionally harvested, and despite them also having it living in great qualities so were people caught harvesting and producing silk in the land of the dragon cult punished with death by dragonflame. That is not to say that bans like this was always obeyed by the puritanical sect of the religion and the heretical movement that split from draktron that called themselves "Fargirkladi" or "colour clad" and generally opposed the belief that the dragon god demanded his followers to always dress in the grey and black with only the purple and black cloak were often said to wear some sort of silks before they were finally eradicated.

Due to the fragile nature of the oyster so were the silk farmers often forced to go out in small Scanderan shallow boats and then dive into the ocean with simply a knife to cut the byssus from their shells and then swim back up. Even today is this the common method of harvesting even if people nowadays generally use some aid for underwater breathing, there are however people preferring the traditional methods.

The value of sea silk is have also influenced Scanderan import laws as there were several attempts to band all import of silk from moths and the earliest bans describes both silk from moths and birds being banned. Historical scholars are still arguing what silk from birds that the ban could be talking about but no firm theory has been established about this. Other histories about the giant oysters also claims that they once had wings and were able to fly amongst the stars themselves where they built large cities and civilisations and communicated through piping song but degenerated into the clams we know today where they wait for their time to rebuild their old lands. These stories are however not given much credit by the larger scholar society.

Taxonomy

There are numerous references to the giant oysters in the old days and the holy chronicles mentions them and the products they make several times however the first truly scientific study of them were made by the father of Scanderan biology Hylfred Göranssen in his books about sea life. He did however make some mistakes and oddly enough does his book make differences between oysters on the west and the east coast as Ostronus Asterus and Ostronus Vasterus (Oysterus Eastus and Oysterus Westus respectively) and people are still to this day debating what kind of pearl oysters living on the east coast this could be meaning as no such animal exist.

Anatomy and health

File:Sizeclam.png

Size compared to a human

A large healthy giant oyster can reach a size of almost 1.5 meters tall in the wild state and grows a hard protective shell around itself as it fastens itself to rocky cliffs and the ocean floor with a large number of fuzzy and long treads that form it's byssus and they can reach lengths of almost ten centimetres. However due to their fragile nature so are they very vulnerable to damage and pollution so even fishing have been very frowned upon in the region. The inside of the scale is lined with mother of pearl and would an oyster get an irritating particle inside of the protective shell so would it form a pearl out of it to protect itself. These pearls can range in size from very small only the size of a grain of sand while the largest ones have been reported at being larger than a man's fist. Depending on the region the oyster grow up in so can these pearls either be green or white with white being common in the far south while green being more common north.

Reproduction

The oysters reproduce by unleashing sperm into the water around them simply which impregnate the females that spawns a large number of larva. The larva then crawls around to find a suitable location around the colony where they put down roots and crow a protective shell to protect them from predatory fish and other dangers.

Diet

Like most Oysters so are the Scanderan giant oyster a filter and feeds on plankton and other small bilogical things one can find in the water but too small to see.

Behaviour

The giant oyster lives in large colonies where they settle and spawn but they do not move for the rest of their lives after having put down roots. Despite this so are they still a very important part of the local ecosystem as large colonies of fishes lives amongst them either as a means to protect themselves from predators or as predators using the colony as a hunting ground.

Life expectancy

It is not known how old a Scanderan giant oyster can become in a wild state as not much research has been made on the subject, some fishermen does however swear that they can live well past a century even if this is highly doubted by scholars.