When you chow down on any animal product, the general consensus is that dead is best. Call us bleeding hearts, if you must.

So it’s natural to question whether that freshly shucked oyster you’ve just thrown back was dearly departed or having its briny life flashing before its eyes. Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.

The good news is that your oyster is very unlikely to still be alive when you eat it. The bad news is, it died within a few minutes of being shucked.

Related story: Shellabrate your love with these 29 oyster recipes

Once an oyster’s flesh is removed from the shell by cutting the adductor muscle (that tough bit that keeps the oyster clamped shut) the oyster continues to breathe for three to five minutes. That is unless the oyster’s heart has been destroyed during the shucking process, as the heart is very close to the adductor muscle.

The next twist on this ethical rollercoaster is that oysters lack a central nervous system, so they don’t feel pain remotely the same way that mammals do. They do have a ganglia nerve, which is a precursor to a central nervous system but is less complex.

In any case, oysters are their freshest and safest to eat if consumed immediately after opening, which is why we recommend buying them live and in the shell, and shucking them yourself.

Related story: Not sure how to shuck oysters? Check out this handy tutorial.