Abstract: A shellfish cultivator in which shellfish such as bivalve mollusks, e.g, oysters, can grow to maturity, e.g., in a pond or closed water system or in open waters, includes a screened-in housing which provides a plurality of horizontal slideways, these slideways including at least one upper slideway and a lowermost slideway, and a plurality of drawers which are slidable along the slideways, the drawers slidable in the upper slideways being drop drawers and the drawer slidable in the lowermost slideway being a bottom receiving drawer. Each drop drawer includes a floor that includes rotatable, perforated louvers and a control rod which is rotatable from outside the housing and which can control the orientation of the louvers so as to determine whether the floor is open or closed. When the floor of each drop drawer is opened the shellfish thereon will fall onto the floor of the drawer therebelow and when closed will retain the shellfish therein for growth.