[10] This bivalve is found from low tide to depths of up to 35 m. In Chile it lives attached to hard rocky or muddy bottoms, from intertidal to about 8 meters deep, in enclosed bays or areas protected from strong waves.

[11] In New Zealand, they are a prized delicacy, and harvested from March to August from the Foveaux Strait oyster fishery, which centres on the town of Bluff (hence the local name).

[6] Hence, the Corfo institution tried to bring-in the Pacific oyster, but the intention was not recommended by the consulted experts, a decision that was respected by the national government.

[6] After the agrarian reform the commercial aquaculture started in the 80s, during the Civic-military dictatorship of Chile, according to FAO, since producers that were state-managed passed to be privately regulated, and also because many exotic species were tentative to introduce as culture options.

Changes in river flows in Southland, due to farming and especially power generation, carrying less limestone deposits into the Strait, is therefore believed to have caused an increase in susceptibility to Bonamia, as well as lower growth rates for some seasons in the past,[citation needed] but little evidence supports this and it seems only coincidental.

Particularly in Corona lighthouse and Quetalmahue Gulf; as the turbulence generated by the falling oysters resuspended the bottom sand, creating hypoxia conditions that did not allow the bivalves to breathe.