The World is Your Oyster: A Beginners Guide to Ordering, Shucking, and Eating Oysters

Whether you’re an oyster novice or a cultured connoisseur, read these pearls of wisdom to learn more about how to choose, shuck, and eat these succulent shellfish.

NOAA Fisheries

Featured News

A closeup of a small fish with huge eyes Image caption: Close up of a lanternfish. Credit: DEEPEND/Danté Fenolio
Feature Story

Decade of Data Shows Rapid Decline in Pelagic Fish and Invertebrates in Deep Gulf

Southeast
Close up photo of a orange-colored snow-Tanner hybrid crab showing its unique trait including a curved mouth. A snow-Tanner hybrid crab collected during the 2026 eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey. Hybrid crab exhibit intermediate morphological traits—such as a curved mouth—relative to snow and Tanner crab parent species. Credit: NOAA Fisheries / Leah Zacher
Feature Story

Marine Heatwave Triggered a Hybrid Crab Surge in the Bering Sea

Alaska
A large brownish-gray shark on a hook at the surface of the water with a small half-eaten shark on the same hook Documentation of depredation of an Atlantic sharpnose shark by a sandbar shark caught on the same hook during longline sampling. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
Feature Story

Shark Depredation Tripled in 20 Years of Longline Survey

Southeast
Large red crane mounted on a barge dipping a bucket into the open water next to a pile of crushed stone substrate. A crane deposits stone on the bottom of Hooper Strait Oyster Sanctuary to build a new oyster reef. Credit: Molly Feltner/NOAA
Feature Story

NOAA-Funded Project to Build 70 Acres of Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Habitat

New England/Mid-Atlantic
A closeup photo of a clump of several oysters being held by a person wearing blue gloves Restored oyster reefs are monitored to ensure the oysters that grow there are thriving. Photo: Oyster Recovery Partnership.
Feature Story

Celebrating Oysters During Oyster Week

National
A man in chef attire and a professional chef's hat stands behind a metal butcher block with salmon filets laid out on a blue cutting board in front of him. He's smiling at the camera and various kitchenware and knifes are hanging on the wall behind him. Chef Matthew Ona of the Culinary Institute of America Credit: Courtesy of Chef Ona
Feature Story

How to Filet a Fish with Chef Matthew Ona of The Culinary Institute of America

Alaska
New England/Mid-Atlantic
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Southeast
West Coast
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Notices & Rules

Fisheries

Modify Groundfish Season Timing in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Fisheries

Alaska
Alaska
Fisheries

Nominations for the ICCAT Advisory Committee Due October 31, 2026

New England/Mid-Atlantic
Southeast
New England/Mid-Atlantic
Southeast
Protected Resources

Incidental Take Authorization: U.S. Navy’s TRF Wharf Interface Repairs Project at U.S. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia

Southeast
Southeast
Fisheries

Federal Register Notices of Proposed and/or Continuing Information Collections as Required by the Paperwork Reduction Act

Alaska
Alaska
Fisheries

Closure: Atlantic Bluefin Tuna General Category Commercial Fishery

New England/Mid-Atlantic
Southeast
New England/Mid-Atlantic
Southeast
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October 2026 Council Coordination Committee Meeting

Oct 20, 2026 - Oct 21, 2026

National

Safe Handling, Release, and Identification Workshops

Nov 2, 2026

New England/Mid-Atlantic
Southeast

Shrimp Futures Scenario Planning Workshop: South Atlantic Part 1

Nov 9, 2026 - Nov 10, 2026

Southeast

Atlantic Shark Identification Workshops

Nov 11, 2026

New England/Mid-Atlantic
Southeast

19th Flatfish Biology Conference - 2026

Nov 16, 2026 - Nov 17, 2026

New England/Mid-Atlantic
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Multimedia

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NOAA Fisheries Video Gallery

A diver hovers over a pink hued reef while preparing a camera to take images of the benthos. A scientist prepares to photograph a reef at Swains Island during the 2023 National Coral Reef Monitoring Program survey in American Samoa. Credit: NOAA Fisheries (Permit #NMSAS-2023-002)
Story Map

How Researchers Are Bringing the 2026 Pacific Coral Survey to You

Pacific Islands
Three people hold the angled trunk of a tree GulfCorps crews clear vegetation to restore habitat in Florida. Credit: John Stanmeyer/The Nature Conservancy.
Podcast

Building Futures: How GulfCorps Combines Habitat Restoration with Job Training

Southeast