Well, the meat of at least some of the pinctada species is edible, right?
For the Chinese not to eat something- like the meat from mussels- is really saying something about mussels! I wonder what. Maybe it is the pig feces they feed the mussels?
Mussels in a natural setting actually clean the water they live in of organic debris and algae and other one cell organisms (I think) . They even withstand fairly punishing circumstances that have biologists from the
Unios listserve wearing protective suits while in the water studying them.
When mussels die as in Lake Kasumi, for instance, the water would be far too toxic for humans to swim in or drink. Mussels are the canaries in the mine, so to speak. when they die, it means a catastrophe is happening.
Diamonds can be bad karma. Gold can too, but pearls would become a distant 123rd or more, down the list, in terms of human cruelty and barbaric conditions.
