This time we're joined by Kevin Roe, a listener with an unusual job title: Curator of Mollusks.

NPR: Kevin Roe, Curator of Mollusks

It is believed to harbor 250 species of coral, 500 of fish and 600 of mollusks, many of them unique in the world.

FORBES: Life

The firm has received funding to create Oyster-tecture, an oyster park at the mouth of the canal where millions of mollusks will "eat" toxins.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: fluorescent bulb moon, fuel-efficient supersonic jet and a toxin-eating oyster park

Ah, the Olympia oyster, the plains buffalo of western mollusks: a golden memory of primordial abundance.

FORBES: The American Oyster Paradise

And what this means to life in the oceans is potentially disastrous: corals and mollusks have more difficulty making shells, plankton at the base of the food chain become less viable, and whole ecosystems are potentially threatened.

FORBES: Unleashing Innovation to Save Our Oceans