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Oysters in Raymond's GutI cannot remember when I first learned about the oyster's amazing ability to filter water.  It was probably a long time ago.  I do recall the best demonstration that I have seen of that capability.

Last summer on August 2 we visited an open house at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort.  There we were shown a bucket of murky water and another of clear water which contained oysters.  For a demonstration they had dipped two buckets of water and placed oysters in one.

At 50 gallons of water per day per oyster, it did not take them long to clear up the water.  We live on the White Oak River which at time appears to be one giant oyster reef at least from the perspective of someone piloting a boat down the river to the Intracoastal Waterway.

I snapped the shot of the oysters in this post while walking on the boardwalk around our clubhouse in Bluewater Cove.  We have had very little precipitation in the last couple of months so the river is absolutely clear except for the brown tint that it always has.

We were out on the river not long ago and noticed a boat working one of the channels.  It turns out that the boat was a deep water clam rig.  One thing that you can be certain of is that if they have opened the river for clams or oysters, the water has tested very clean.  They are very careful about shellfish.

Some folks don't like the brown tint of the White Oak.  It is actually called a blackwater river.  In spite of that the water often looks very blue as it does in this slide show that I created after a recent run on the river.

I don't mind the color of the water.  I actually enjoy the variety of colors that our local waters mirror.  I especially like the wonder blue-green colors that we often see when the light is just right and the sky is very blue.  A good example would be these slides from last summer.

I am glad we have oysters around.  I love to eat them, I am proud our waters are pure enough that the oysters do well here and can be eaten most of the time.  We have a tremendous variety of marine life in the area.  The slides taken when we visited the Duke Marine lab have pictures of what hides in our waters along with some random ones taken that day.

I also did slides from our recent visit to the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. There are plenty of marine neighbors there.

Somehow when your back steps lead to the water, you feel the need to get to know your neighbors.  It happens to be one of my favorite preoccupations.