Giant honeycomb oyster

Giant Honeycomb oyster
Hyotissa hyotis in Maldives
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Order:	Ostreoida
Family:	Gryphaeidae
Genus:	Hyotissa
Species:	H. hyotis
Binomial name
Hyotissa hyotis (Linnaeus, 1758)

The giant honeycomb oyster (Hyotissa hyotis) is a very large saltwater oyster, a marine bivalve mollusk.

Species in this family are known as honeycomb oysters or "foam oysters" because under magnification, their shell structure is foam-like.

Like most bivalves, the giant honeycomb oyster is a filter feeder.

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  in situ in Mayotte
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  Recently dead specimen

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Habitat and range

Its native range is in deeper water in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. It has however also been found recently as an accidentally introduced species in the Florida Keys.

Bibliography

• Paula M. Mikkelsen and Rudiger Bieler, 2008, Seashells of Southern Florida: Living Marine mollusks of the Florida Keys and adjacent regions, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, ISBN 0-691-11606-7