Delaware Inland Bays and Market Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Quality for Consumption

Table 1

Minimum, maximum, and range of optimal water quality conditions for oyster survivability.

Water quality parameters	Minimum	Range	Maximum	References
Total nitrogen (mg/L)			<1.0	DNREC [31]
Nitrate (mg/L)			<4.5	Boyd [32]
Total phosphorus (mg/L)			≤0.1	DNREC [31]
Total suspended solids (mg/L)			<100	Shumway [33]
Alkalinity (mg/L)			<116	Lawson [34]
Temperature (°C)	2	2–36	49	NOAA [10]
Salinity (ppt)	5	14–28	40	NOAA [10]
Dissolved oxygen (mg/L)	5	5.0–10.0	10	DNREC [31]; Boyd [32]
pH	4	7.5–8.5	11	Lawson [34]