Here are some fun facts you may not have known about oysters, from CuisineNet:

Oysters are named for the region in which they were cultivated. Since oysters are filter feeders, external aspects of their environment like the mineral content in water, types of microscopic marine creatures, salinity of the water and temperature of the water can all affect how an oyster tastes when it's eaten. By becoming familiar with popular oyster regions, you can predict how an oyster will taste even before it's placed in front of you. This is why many restaurants carry different types of oysters.

Of all of the different types of oysters, we only regularly consume three species raw. Ostrea Edulis oysters are known in restaurants as Belon, Dorset, Whitstable, and Blue Hill oysters. They are also cultivated in the Pacific Northwest. Marennes oysters, immediately recognizable for their high chlorophyll content and subsequent green tinge, are regarded in France as the most superior in quality. Ostrea Lurida oysters are widely known as Olympia oysters and are native to the Pacific Northwest. They are tiny, about the size of a quarter, and possess a luscious flavor and aftertaste. Crassostrea Virginica oysters thrive throughout America, from Prince Edward Island down to the Gulf of Mexico. Northern oysters are considered preferable to southern oysters for eating raw, due to the colder northern climates. Crassostrea Virginica oysters are also known as Atlantic oysters or Eastern oysters, but have regional names that include Bluepoint (Long Island), box oyster (Long Island), Chesapeake Bay, Chincoteague (Virginia), Cotuit (Nantucket), Kent Island (Maryland), Malpeque (Prince Edward Island), Patuxent (Maryland), Apalachicola (Florida), Breton Sound (Louisiana), and Wellfleet (Massachusetts).

Apalachicola oysters are thought to be the original oysters used for Oysters Rockefeller, a dish created in New Orleans, La.

While we're told that pearls come from oysters when a foreign object works its way into the shell and irritates the oyster flesh, the type of pearls we string on necklaces are produced by a different kind of mollusk entirely. If you eat a raw oyster and feel a small grain or bit of gravel, that's the pearl an edible oyster will produce.

Oysters are best in months that contain an R—in other words, not during May, June, July, or August. These warm summer months are when oysters reproduce, and their flavor and consistency changes entirely.