What a great universe we live in. Nature is astounding in its efficiency and order.

Glad you're here! That site, Upworthy.com, has some genuine gems in it! And yeah, you're spot-on - Nature has it all figured out, harmonious and organic and interconnected as can be. Everything has a role to play. Everything plays a part. Only when man interferes do things seem to go out-of-whack.

Gotta love nature Steve.

A friend of mine has worked his entire career in water quality at our State Health Department (known in SC as Health and Environmental Control). He says that you couldn't offer $100 dollar bills to anyone in that department to eat a raw oyster. While he doesn't like them, he says he does not have the same reservation against cooked or properly steamed oysters.

Bad rain storms, we'd have to shut down the fisheris in Murrels Inlet to allow the run off from the farms and road filter thru the oysters and "clean" the water back up. They are nature little garbage disposals. They are absolutely amazing and vital for the South East coasts. Maryland would be a far nicer estuary if the oysters could be culled back thru there. They do use them as a tool to clean up areas, but so much damage was done, that it takes a while.

Back in the college days, we would have a test question about how many days it would take to clean the Gulf of Mexico by Oysters... With nothing more coming in as contamination went. I think it was like 3 or 4 days with optimal oyster fisheries... If, like I said, no more contamination was coming in. No matter what, they are just an amazing and vital resource in nature. Super cool little devils!

...

The liver concentrates toxins, and while a working liver is essential to good health, I honestly don't think we should be eating them. Plus, the one or two times I've eaten liver, it was genuinely nasty.

"I'm supposed to eat that?"
I did...and then I didn't...ever again.
Chocolate good, Liver ungood.

It's made of pure, original, unfiltered ingredients that have never seen liver. So yes, chocolate is better for you and far, far tastier.

Organ meats, in general, are sources of a lot of vitamins and minerals that are often lacking in societies that don't have a huge food diversity. If you were a hunter/gatherer you would fight to get a piece of the liver or kidneys. Because micro-nutrient deficiency will make a a sick, depressed mess.

Thankfully, I'm neither a hunter nor a gatherer and have other sources of vitamins. Because I think liver is nasty too.

ever since I can remember. Somehow, I'm not convinced. Again, it filters toxins. Those toxins stay in the liver. Why do we want to eat all the awful stuff the creature has consumed?

I happen to be an enthusiastic carnivore, although I certainly don't eat everything. Forget oysters or mussels (shudder), and I'll pass on raw fish, and I do not like the taste of lamb, but other than those idiosyncrasies, I eat most stuff. But definitely not liver. Or kidneys. Same problem.

Which means rich in both fat and water soluable vitamins. Plus iron. But for me, Ill pass till its a survival situation.

As far as toxins go...yeah, thats a thing. A few years back, a bunch of hunters in Virginia got sick from eating venison liver that had high levels of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal.

a few centuries back. I find the remains of old shells sometimes buried or used in mortar at 18th century sites.

Can we seed oysters in lakes and such that have algae bloom problems? Would that be a possible fix for places who get their water supplies from those sources?

Cloudy water does not necessarily mean "bad" water" and clear water does not necessarily mean "good" water... This picture means close to nothing, really, when you look at the substance of things.

The oysters eat it up.

"In this striking visualization we see two tanks filled with water from the Honga River, an estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. The tank on the right also contains oysters. Over the course of 2 hours those oysters filtered all of the algae out of the water. The demonstration shows how effective oysters are at naturally filtering water which Maryland Seafood says benefits the entire ecosystem:

“With clearer water comes more sunlight penetration, more sea grasses, and more places for fish/crabs to hide from predators.”



Typically a single oyster can filter up to 2 gallons (7.57 litres) of water an hour. "

http://twistedsifter.com/2014/10/two-tanks-filled-with-same-water-one-has-oysters/