Hi Jeremy,
Unless the author of that article is using English grammar in a way I am not familiar with, the article actually says that the pearl farmers are culturing tridacna gigas pearls. It does not mention their use in nuclei.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by jshepherd I just found this article today from Kyodo News in Japan Today!
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 at 12:30 JST
TOKYO — Some Japanese pearl farmers have been cultivating pearls from giant clams that have been imported from China in violation of an international convention restricting their trade, industry sources said Tuesday.
The pearl cultivation industry association has agreed not to use the giant clams to culture pearls, but the pearl farmers have been using them because they are inexpensive, the sources said. (Kyodo News)
It appears as this is a growing problem. What surprises me is that this is being reported from Japan. The Japanese pearl farmers have been fierce in discrediting Chinese pearl farmers that use this form of nuclei. But apparently market forces are stronger than personal ethics for many. |
Considering the lack of visual appeal of t. gigas pearls, I would wonder why they would do that unless they are planning to do what Fujita first did with his tissue nucleated pearls from Lake Biwa, i.e. selling them as naturals.
It appears that tridacna gigas is now being cultured for unspecified reasons as this recent article indicates:
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.ed...cna_gigas.html
I have to qualify the statement on lack of attractiveness. Although the t. gigas pearls tend to look like nothing to write home about, there are some rather pretty cousins in the tridacna family that may produce quite fascinating pearls:
http://www.orafarm.com/clams.html
Zeide