2a. Oyster Farming

Question 1

seed

Answer 1

an oyster that has settled and formed a small shell.

“the seed looks like grains of sand and requires lots of fresh water…Oysters, by virtue of their immobility and their knack for getting all their nutritional needs through water, act more like plants than animals.” (27)

Question 2

hatchery

Answer 2

a place for hatching eggs (as of poultry or fish)

“Instead of letting oysters cast their sperm and eggs into the great blue and hoping for the best, hatcheries let those sperm and eggs mix in a safe tank where their odds of getting together are exponentially higher.” (35)

Question 3

inoculate

Answer 3

treat (a person or animal) with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease: he inoculated his tenants against smallpox.

Question 4

microns

Answer 4

a unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter.

MD A “micron” is an abbreviated term for “micrometer”, or a millionth of a meter (1/1,000,000 meters). This is about .00004 inches. For Size comparison, a human red blood cell is about 5 microns across. A human hair is about 75 microns across (depending on the person).

Question 5

flupsy

Answer 5

floating upweller system. used to help oyster seeds grow through motorized upwellers that pump algae and nutrient-rich water through compartments of juvenile shellfish held in a floating raft. It’s like living at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and the oysters grow exponentially in size, from tiny specks to the size of a quarter in just a few weeks, if conditions are ideal.