It’s pretty amazing how social media works. A seemingly innocuous photo posted on Twitter by the Director of Fisheries Marketing at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources last month has gone viral! In a classic “picture is worth a thousand words” way, it illustrated how oysters filter algae from the water. And the comments illustrated how little most people know about oysters, and raised lots of important questions about what they eat, whether it’s safe to eat them after they’ve had a big meal of algae (and probably, bacteria).
And so of course, we’re jumping on the bandwagon, hoping that we can impress people with not just a photo, but a timelapse, set to cool music, of the same phenomenon.
In this teaser for our award-winning short documentary THE WATERSHED, Scott Lindell, senior aquaculturist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, demonstrates the powerful filter-feeding of oysters. The timelapse shows water filled with green and brown algae turn clear in just 4 hours, followed up with some awesome shots of oyster farmers on Cape Cod.
So please, help us out! Share, like, comment, and help spread the word about oyster power!
