How do oysters make pearls? (2024)

FAQs

How do oysters make pearls? ›

Oysters make pearls in response to an irritant, such as a grain of sand or another object. When any irritant makes its way between the mollusk's shell and mantle, the creature produces nacre, a protective coating that helps reduce irritation.

The layers of nacre are extremely thin, so it can take two or more years to form a 3 to 5 mm pearl. Natural pearls are extremely uncommon — found in about one in 10,000 wild oysters. Most pearls sold in jewelry stores are cultured, meaning humans insert an irritant into an oyster to stimulate it to make a pearl.

The pearl sac grows around the nucleus and begins to deposit nacre. This nacre layering is the beauty of the pearl. Saltwater oysters will only produce 1 to 2 pearls per typical nucleation. Akoya oysters can be nucleated with up to 5 beads but the use of only 2 is most common.

Some pearl “farmers” will remove pearls from an oyster without killing them, keeping them alive to endure repeated insertions of foreign materials to continue making pearls. It is estimated that around a third to half of them are kept while the rest are killed.

The value of a pearl can vary dramatically depending on many factors, such as its type, size, color, surface quality, and more. A wild pearl will be worth more than a cultured pearl. However, on average, a pearl's value ranges from $300 to $1500.

As a result, a beautiful pearl begins to form. There is no way for an oyster that has never been wounded to produce pearls, because a pearl is a wound that has healed.

Naturally formed blue is the rarest pearl color in the world, and while they can be lab-grown, the ones found in the sea are extremely valuable and striking.

When it is time to remove the pearl, it is sent to a harvester. They will very carefully open the oyster and remove the pearl, often using a surgical instrument. Removing a pearl does not harm the oyster – in fact, they can then insert a new nucleus and grow another pearl inside of the same oyster.

But just how lucky is finding a pearl in a mollusk? Typically, you'll find them hiding in oysters, but the chance of finding one is roughly one in 10,000, experts estimate. Sure, that's not as difficult as winning the lottery, but damn, the chances are still pretty low.

Yes, pearls hold significant value as exquisite gems. While their value can fluctuate based on market trends and demand, high-quality pearls can retain their worth over time.

Why don't the oysters we eat have pearls? ›

Not All Oysters Produce Pearls

Because edible oysters are from the family Ostreidae and are most often found near the surface of the water, whereas pearl oysters are from the family pteriidae, and can be found deep in the ocean.

Oysters have three-chambered hearts that pump colorless blood throughout their bodies. They breathe with gills, just like fish. Wild oysters can live 25 to 30 years, but typically most don't survive past six years.

After many, many years of diving for pearls, divers have made natural pearls so rare; some say they are close to becoming extinct. Therefore, they are hard to find on the ocean's surface these days. Because of this rarity, natural pearls are generally much more expensive than cultured pearls.

Heart shaped pearls and star shaped pearls are also part of this inventory and are very popular shapes in the freshwater pearl world. These shapes, as with all pearls, were very hard to perfect with smooth skins, so the best of them are only a small proportion of the harvest.

The cost of pearls varies depending on factors like size, shape, color, luster, surface quality, and type. For example, 5-6mm sizes can range in price from a few hundred dollars per piece while larger, high-quality pearls can cost thousands.

Over the course of 2 to 7 years, the mussels deposit layer upon layer of nacre around the growing gems, generally producing more than two dozen pearls clustered on the inside of each shell. After harvest, millions of pearls are sorted carefully and matched for size, shape, color, and quality.