The Iwagaki oyster (''Magallana nippona''), is an oyster native to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It was first described in 1934.

Etymology

The genus ''Magallana'' is named for the Portuguese explorer

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

and its specific epithet nippona is for "Japanese". It was previously placed in the genus '' Crassostrea''; from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''crass'' meaning "thick", ''ostrea'' meaning "oyster", and ''Crassostrea nippona'' is considered by part of the scientific community to be the proper denomination as an accepted alternative in

WoRMS The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

References

Magallana Invertebrates of Japan Molluscs described in 1934 {{ostreidae-stub