This is a VERY interesting topic (even it it was ME who started it!)
I can't look at that Pearl World article again just at the moment, because I'm offsite in ... er ... Tahiti
Thanks for the reference to the Bikini Atoll article. Obviously a lot more work needs to be done. I think there were a few assumptions, or incomplete inferences in that article, but that may have been due to editing. It would be good to see more on that. I'm thinking especially about the problem with Australia's Great Barrier Reef, regeneration etc etc, but getting off topic now re pearls.
When I've finished sunning myself here
and am back home in cold, wet Melbourne, I'll reread that article in PW, as well as your posts, and do a bit more research.
I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist...