The ‘Usain Bolt’ of molluscs is expected to smash current record held by 1.62kg Danish oyster

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

An Australian man who claims to own the world’s largest oyster will have his 2kg mollusc, named Jack, officially measured at a regional oyster festival on Saturday.

Bernie Connell will present his potential world beater to the Narooma Oyster Festival on the New South Wales south coast this weekend, confident of breaking a Guinness world record.

The current Guinness record oyster is a 1.62kg cluster from Denmark, 35.5cm long and 10.7cm wide, found in December 2013.

Connell said he had grown Jack over four years in the Clyde River, and told the ABC he was “a champion oyster ... like Usain Bolt”.

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On Saturday, multiple oysters vying for the crown will be weighed, measured and documented on the main stage of the sold-out festival, with the information then sent to Guinness World Record officials.



Connell will be competing with other oysters from the south coast region on Saturday and he said he had more than one oyster on his farm that could beat the current record.

Jack is only four years old, while the current Danish champion was estimated to be between 15 and 20 years old when it was discovered. “If I do end up with the world champion, I won’t be selling it. I’ll keep it growing,” he told festival organisers.

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According to Guinness World Records, the standard processing time for an application is 12 weeks, or 5 days if a $1,000 priority fee is paid.

Guinness requires the measurement be taken three times and averaged, in front of two independent witnesses, with a veterinary statement that the oyster is healthy and over a year old, and that the oyster be “moved on the ground between each measurement”. Video evidence of the recording process is also required.