Seawater pearls are farmed in saltwater, and produced by a saltwater mollusk in a saline environment. Only one pearl is grown per mollusk. This makes salt-water pearls more expensive than freshwater pearls.
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Seawater pearls farming
2010-06-17 11:16:00
Countries known as producer of saltwater pearl are Burma, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines in South East Asia; Australia and Tahiti in South Pacific, especially in Tahiti, you’ll find the beautiful black pearls.
Today, any pearls cultured in mollusks inhabiting saline waters are considered saltwater pearls. The three most common types of saltwater pearls are akoya pearls, Tahitian pearls, and South Sea pearls. The types of saltwater pearls are classified according to the mollusk, which produces its color and shape. The akoya pearl comes from the akoya oyster and is characteristically round, with a white or cream color and high luster. Tahitian pearls are prized for their dark colors (also known as Black Tahitian pearls), which are produced by the black-lip oyster (Pinctada margaritifera). Tahitian pearls may be round, oval or pear-shaped. South Sea pearls grown in the Pinctada maxima oyster can produce pearls in colors such as white, cream, pink, gold and silver, because these colors are evident in their interior shells. South Sea pearls are found in a variety of shapes, including round, button (flat back), pear, oval and baroque (uneven or drop shaped).
As for the farming of seawater pearls, for all seawater pearl oysters, the nucleation process is the same and this process is how each pearl begins its life. One factor that is important in the nucleation process of seawater pearl is water temperature. Oysters are very sensitive to changes in temperature and water temperature can even determine the thickness of its nacre. Because of this sensitivity, Akoya pearls are usually nucleated in the spring and summer and only along the coasts of Japan. Tahitian pearls are nucleated in the black lipped oysters which are large and rare. These pearls are cultured and farmed off the coasts of the French Polynesian islands. While South Sea pearls are a produced by silver-lipped and gold-lipped oysters that are collected in the wild, with pearls already in the growing process. After being collected, the oysters are moved to the farms. The farms have regulated environments to help the oysters and pearls grow to their full potential.
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