# Are oysters alive when you eat them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596 "2018-12-24T01:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/41 "2018-12-27T17:00:23Z")
Huh. I’ve also heard that if you squeeze lemon onto a freshly shucked one, it will twitch. I’ve shucked and squeezed lemon onto a lot of oysters, and not once did I see an oyster twitch. I always assumed the act of shucking killed them pretty promptly. **Johnny L.A.** , did you get your fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish, at their Samish Oyster Bar and Shellfish Market near Chuckanut? We bought a pound jar of shucked ones there and made a heavenly oyster stew for dinner that night. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/42 "2018-12-27T17:33:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Oh, thanks to **Colibria** for confirming my suspicion. Sorry for the misspelling, **Colibri**. I’m in the office today, and was distracted by coworkers. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/43 "2018-12-27T17:38:49Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I always assumed the act of shucking killed them pretty promptly. I was pretty sure they are still alive when you eat them, but I wondered of shucking them ‘killed them promptly’ so I wasn’t sure. > [@teela\_brown](#): > > **Johnny L.A.** , did you get your fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish, at their Samish Oyster Bar and Shellfish Market near Chuckanut? We bought a pound jar of shucked ones there and made a heavenly oyster stew for dinner that night. That’s pretty far from where we live. I got them from the butcher’s at the closest supermarket. Their oysters are local(-ish). For real local oysters I could always go to Drayton Harbor Oyster Co. We eat oysters one of three ways: Raw, fried (plain, or in a po’boy), or broiled. I use jarred oysters for frying, but the other ones are alive. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/44 "2018-12-27T18:00:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Sea urchin sushi, which is actually the animals gonads, is prepared from the living animal. That’s pretty unusual, actually. I’ve only seen it in touristy coastal towns. Uni (sea urchin) is usually processed where they are caught, and just the raw gonads packed in boxes. Most sushi restaurants in Japan - even the top rated ones - use pre-packaged uni because it has more consistent quality than live uni. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/45 "2018-12-27T18:41:33Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Huh. I’ve also heard that if you squeeze lemon onto a freshly shucked one, it will twitch. I’ve shucked and squeezed lemon onto a lot of oysters, and not once did I see an oyster twitch. I always assumed the act of shucking killed them pretty promptly. I don’t eat raw oysters very often, but I have seen them twitch. [Here’s a video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYYfhL8PKak) And here’s a video showing a [shucked oyster with the heart still beating.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHPagQRKEjU) As I said above, the problem is defining exactly what is meant by “alive” when it comes to an oyster. Even if the heart stops, the tissues including the nervous system may remain alive for a time. But given that an oyster doesn’t really have a brain to begin with, but rather a couple of ganglia, the concept of “brain dead” is tough to apply. Maybe the twitching when you apply lemon is just an automatic reaction of the muscle fibers rather than a response of the nervous system. What is certain at any rate is that the tissues are still alive if you eat them immediately after shucking without condiments. It’s possible that lemon juice or vinegar in cocktail sauce might kill the tissues before eating. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/46 "2018-12-27T18:57:37Z")
I have no fears that the oysters I eat are alive since they have been smoked and canned. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/47 "2018-12-27T20:20:41Z")
Oh, I’m clutching my pearls. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/48 "2018-12-27T21:55:43Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Oh, I’m clutching my pearls. So were the oysters. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/49 "2018-12-29T01:35:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Clams. > > Gagh. So, tell my how you really feel about raw clams. 🙂 (ISWYDT) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596/50 "2018-12-29T03:55:27Z")
I do like my oysters grilled, mind you (and at Felix’s on Iberville, while at it), but the notion that the raw oysters on the ice bed that you put some hot sauce and lemon upon before slurping down may be still technically “alive” does not much disturb me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-oysters-alive-when-you-eat-them/826596.md?page=2)