Which animal is pictured?

Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats.

Some types of oysters are commonly consumed cooked or raw, and in some locales are regarded as a delicacy. Some types of pearl oysters are harvested for the pearl produced within the mantle. Windowpane oysters are harvested for their translucent shells, which are used to make various kinds of decorative objects.

Oysters are filter feeders, drawing water in over their gills through the beating of cilia. Suspended plankton and particles are trapped in the mucus of a gill, and from there are transported to the mouth, where they are eaten, digested, and expelled as feces or pseudofeces.

A group of oysters is commonly called a bed or oyster reef. As a keystone species, oysters provide habitat for many marine species.