"Long before the bridges and the seawalls, the Indian River Lagoon was an oyster kingdom. Reefs stretched for miles, some big enough to break the surface at low tide. The water was gin-clear, because oysters filter it. Fish and crabs lived in the reefs. The whole lagoon was held together by oysters — and then we nearly lost every one of them."
When the Lagoon Was Built on Oysters
Historically, the Indian River Lagoon held some of the most extensive oyster reefs in Florida. Reefs stretched for miles along the lagoon's bottom; some were large enough to break the surface at low tide and were charted as navigation hazards on early maps. Oysters are 'ecosystem engineers' — they build reefs that provide habitat for fish, crabs, and shrimp; they filter the water (a single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day); and they stabilize the shoreline against erosion. In the lagoon's pristine state, the water was clear because the oysters kept it that way. Oysters were a foundation of the lagoon's ecosystem — and a foundation of the human communities that lived along it. The Ais people harvested oysters for thousands of years; their shell middens still line the lagoon. Early settlers harvested oysters commercially; oyster roasts were a community institution. The oyster was as central to the lagoon as the seagrass and the manatees.