Dear Charly,

I do like Ostreidae very much. In the Mediterranean there are living Ostrea
edulis,
Crassostrea gigas and a small oysters where I am not sure if they shoud be
valid or not.
Most confusing are the different large oysters as they are most variable
and cultivated
and each water nearly has its own shape. So I think its better not to
splitter some different
species and put them together to one: maybe Crassostrea gigas. If you like
oysters,
maybe I will get some for you next year.
Helmut

Helmut "Helix" Nisters
private:
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.netwing.at/nisters
office:
Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
Feldstrasse 11a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at


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> Andy,
>   I too have a certain fondness for the Ostreidae, however one must
> acknowledge their great degree of variability and how difficult they can
> sometimes be to work with.  I have heard that in a taxonomic spliter they
> can induce sheer madness or an utmost degree of ecstacy!
>
> Charlie
>
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**
> Charlie Sturm, Jr
> Research Associate - Section of Invertebrate Zoology
>                      Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA
> Assistant Professor - Family Medicine
>
> [log in to unmask]
>