JU’s Quinton White in River Life column: Oysters have interesting tastes — but you shouldn’t try the ones in St. Johns

JU’s Quinton White discusses the amazing oyster in his latest monthly River Life column in The Florida Times-Union.

In the Friday, June 28, Metro section column, White, executive director of JU’s Marine Science Research Institute, remarks on the plentiful marine life in the St. Johns River, and even brings up a wives’ tale about when it’s safe to eat oysters.

Here’s an excerpt:

The first person to eat an oyster must have been very hungry and very adventurous.

These amazing mollusks, whose fleshy texture is hard to describe, sort of like a large wad of soft chewing gum, come in a variety of interesting flavors, from salty sweet to earthy. They’re an amazing part of the ecology of the lower St. Johns River.

Our local oyster, also called Eastern, American, Atlantic or Virginia Oyster, has the scientific name Crassostrea virginica. The genus name Crassostrea is from Greek and Latin words meaning “shell” or “bone,” while the species name virginica was given in 1791 when Johann Friedrich Gmelin published the description of an oyster probably collected and sent to him from Virginia.

Read the entire column here.