The Oyster is My World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jonathan Swift

Swift made his remark about oysters in "Polite Conversations" (1738). In fact, oysters have been eaten since the most ancient times, with preserved shells found in the excavated middens of the earliest known sites of human occupation.

Answer: Richard I

The oyster beds of Colchester date back to at least Roman times, and possibly much, much earlier even than that. It was King Richard I (the Lionheart) who issued the town with a Royal Charter which included fishing rights among its provisions.
The October Festival culminates in the Mayor's Dinner, held at the Moot Hall each October since the late 14th century.

Answer: Sea snail

Commonly known as the oyster drill snail, they prey on young oysters and can be a huge problem in commercial oystering operations. Naturally found down the east coast of the United States, they have also been accidentally introduced to other waters, both on the west coast of the States and in Europe.
The "radula" are the toothlike parts of a mollusc's ingestion organs, and some species of snail combine them with acid and/or venomous secretions too!

Answer: The Philippines

For many thousands of years, the only way to find a pearl was for a diver to swim down and fetch oysters to be searched. Biologists estimate that as few as one in a thousand oysters will actually contain a pearl, and large flawless pearls are a tiny percentage of those found.
Any pearls found by the divers of the Sulu Archipelago were supposed to be handed over to the Sultan, and to keep one was an offence carrying a death sentence if the diver was caught! Some were smuggled out though, and their fame spread.

Answer: Someone who stole oysters from the beds and sold them for profit

Oyster pirates were just that, people who sneaked out to the oyster beds, gathered as many oysters as they could, and sold them at the local markets. At this time, the price of oysters was higher than it had ever been before, and the people wanted the cheapest oysters they could get. The locals, and police, were fairly sympathetic to the pirates and they flourished unpunished.
Author Jack London was an oyster pirate for a while, in his teens, and wrote of his experiences in his autobiographical book "John Barleycorn", first published in 1913.

Answer: Ostreidae

The true oysters, of Family Ostreidae, include all the edible species. They do not make harvest-worthy pearls, although they can secrete nacre. Pearl oysters belong to the Family Pteriidae, sometimes called "feathered oysters" and, perhaps surprisingly, are not actually closely related to the true oysters at all.

Answer: True

It is indeed true. Most bivalve creatures can make pearls, but very few of them are commercially valuable. An oyster pearl forms when the oyster secretes nacre and covers an irritant in layers of it. These layers build up, sometimes over several years, to make a pearl. The colour of the pearl depends on the species of oyster and the colour of the nacre it secretes.

Answer: To generate electricity using wave power

The Oyster wave energy converter, made by a company called Aquamarine, uses a large flap, anchored to the sea bed about ten metres deep, to force water through a tube, under pressure, and thus turn a turbine and generate renewable green electricity.
The project falls under the aegis of the European Marine Energy Centre, and is one of several large scale experimental devices being tested, to provide renewable energy to the UK's National Grid using wave and tidal power.

Answer: Paying the fare on public transport

The Oyster Card system is used on London's various public transport vehicles, to speed up passenger transit around the city. The owner tops up their card in a similar way to topping up a mobile phone with credit, and then just uses a card reader at the start and end of each journey on the bus, tube, or train.

Answer: When there is no R in the month

The full quotation reads "It is unseasonable and unwholesome in all months that have not an R in their name to eat an oyster."
Oysters and other seafood are notorious for causing food poisoning, and must be handled, prepared, and served carefully to prevent an outbreak. Obviously, back in 1599 this was even more likely as there was only rudimentary refrigeration available, and food hygiene was nowhere near modern standards. In the (northern hemisphere where Butler lived) summer months of May, June, July, and August, oysters were more likely to spoil in the heat.