Oyster Worms..Just Another Reason

  I will admit it.  Even though I eat a lot of seafood and live on a bayou, I am not a fan of oysters.  Strange, huh??  If I do eat a few, they have to be very tiny and fried really crispy.  That, in itself, is a problem since I do not like fried foods.  Occasionally, having something fried is ok but a steady diet of it is terrible!  Oysters are one of those things that I can happily do without from the get-go.  

  Mark brought home six huge sacks of oysters so Son tossed two sacks (at a time) in the wheelbarrow and wheeled them down the hill.  I have a strict rule that oysters are to be shucked far from the house.  The mounds of empty shells can emit a stench that infiltrates the house if the wind is right.  So, down the hill went the oysters and Mark set to work shucking them.  Since this is a time-consuming chore for one person, he opted to open two sacks and take a break.  When he restarted, there was a drizzly rain going so Son and I erected a makeshift tent allowing the shucking to be done in a little more comfort.  It took quite a while to shuck six sacks.  My job was to keep Mark supplied with lots of hot coffee on this cold, drizzly, oyster-shucking day.

  Once the shucking was complete, it was up to Son to haul the empty shells to the marsh edge.  There, the coons, rats and any other critter can feast on the leftovers and I will not complain of the stench.  While he was washing the wheelbarrows, he called to me.  "Hey, Mom.  Come see."  My young man of few words evidently had made some odd discovery.  He knows that I have an insatiable curiosity about any unusual critter.  I headed to him with camera in hand.  I knew something interesting had been found and I was not disappointed.  Disgusted but not disappointed.  Son pointed to the bottom of the wheelbarrow.  There were dozens of the weirdest looking critters crawling around in wonderment of their new surroundings.  "Are those a type of leach?  Or worm?" he pondered.  I had no answer but took a lot of photos so I could research the critters. Some of the critters were maybe an inch long but others were nigh on four inches in length!  Weird!

  Yep.  They are worms.  Mud worms, to be exact.  Polydora websteri.  Oyster worms.  These are marine worms that make their homes inside of oyster shells of live oysters.  There, they have a symbiotic relationship with the oyster and, other than leaving a "muddy" blemish on the inside of the shell, they are supposedly harmless. Also, they supposedly do not make the oyster inedible so if you are served raw oysters and find a squirmy worm, you are fully welcome to eat the oysters.   According to all I have read, they leave the oyster shortly after it has been removed from the water,  so some folks use this as a guide to the freshness of the oysters they purchase.  No worms mean old oysters.  Hmmm?  To be truthful, finding the worms just gave me one more reason not to eat the oysters.  Stench, worms and the idea that the oyster looks a lot like something the cat may have coughed up all add up to me preferring shrimp. How can anyone eat these things raw???  Nope...NOPE!  Especially with live worms crawling around on them!  Ugly worms.  Creepy worms.  NOPE!  Ain't happenin', folks, ain't happenin'.