Where do baby oysters come from?

From adult oysters. In our case, because we're farmers, we buy baby oysters from a commercial hatchery and rear them in our shellfish nursery until ready for planting. In the wild, Pacific oysters release gametes, that is eggs and sperm, into the water when the conditions are right. Oysters can spawn this way from none to several times in a single spawning season. Once the gametes are liberated into the sea around the parents, fertilization can occur between swimming sperm and free drifting eggs. Obviously, timing is of the essence, and fertilization occurs within about 15 hours. Larval development follows, and about 17-22 days later, the eyed larvae can settle, metamorphose, and grow into mature oysters. Very few baby oysters make it in the wild, so farming is the only reliable supply of seed animals here in BC.