APHOTOMARINE

An educational resource dedicated mainly to the photography
and diversity of marine life that can be found in coastal waters
and intertidal areas of Great Britain and Ireland by David Fenwick.

Scroll down and rollover titles to change screen image or click on title to view image.

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- dorsal view exterior shell 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- ventral view interior shell 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- ventral view interior shell 2

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- grooved edge of shell 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- dorsal view on Atrina rigida 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- shell base on Atrina rigida 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- shell valves on Atrina rigida 1

The shell valves above were with Atrina rigida, Stiff pen shell, at Siesta beach, Siesta Key, Florida, USA, 18.11.12. Photographed in UK, in private collection, 07.01.16.

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- front view shell 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- item of flosam with shells 1

A non-native species, specimen above was found on a piece of plastic flotsam washed-up at Par Beach, near St. Austell, Cornwall, 31.01.16.

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- dorsal view shell 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- grooved basal valve 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- on Stone crab trap 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- on Stone crab trap 2

Specimens above were found on a Stone crab trap washed-up at Long Rock Station, near Marazion, Cornwall, 23.01.16.

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- dorsal view shell 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- dorsal view shell 2

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- hinge 1

Specimens above were found on the rim of a plastic pail with (spout w/tear tab and gasket) lid, that had washed-up at Marazion, Cornwall, 30.12.15. The drum had drifted across the Atlantic from Florida. The bivalves Isognomon bicolor and Isognomon radiatus, two species of Purse oyster, were also found on the container, along with the two specimens of Crested oyster featured here.

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- basal valve on flotsam 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- basal valve on flotsam 2

Above, two valve bases found on a hard styrene block covered in Goose barnacles at Top Tieb, Marazion, Cornwall. 28.12.15.

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- with 1.0mm division rule 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- exterior basal valve 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- interior basal valve 1

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- interior basal valve 2

Crested or Horse oyster
Ostrea stentina
- on lobster trap lid 1

Specimens found on a Stone crab trap washed-up on the strandline at Praa Sands, Cornwall, 10.12.11.

Basal valves of species found attached to flotsam, a Stone crab trap made by Florida Traps Inc., a company based in Marathon in the Florida Keys, USA. Largest shell in images 50mm x 40mm.

Please note the recent taxonomic change from Ostrea equestris Say, 1834 to Ostrea stentina Payraudeau, 1826.

Scientific and European Names: Ostrea stentina, Ostrea equestris, Ostreola equestris, Crested oyster, Horse oyster.

The main objective of this website is in furthering environmental awareness and education through the medium of photography. To increase awareness and access to the wildlife of the region and help

people find and identify it. Sometimes the difference between species is obvious but many species can only be determined by observing microscopic characteristics that are specific to any one species.