The Role of Oysters in the Ocean

When oysters spawn, a little baby oyster forms in just a few hours after the egg is fertilized. So when you put an old oyster shell back in the water, all the babies that are nearby will sense it and will come and they'll stick to it. And what happens is once the baby oyster sticks to that old shell, they grow in this cluster. They grow in these clusters all along the coastline. What that does, it actually, it helps prevent coastal erosion, it helps break up storm surges these beds.