[fmartinez]

I am doing some research on pictada imbricata and I would love to visit beds of pictada imbricata.If anyone has any information of location of natural beds of this oyster please let me know. I hear there are pictada imbricata beds in Florida and Venezuela, but I dont know the exact location or information of people or organizations that I could contact to provide me with that information. So if anyone can help that would be great.Thanks.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi,

Pinctada radiata is found throughout the Pacific (including the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea) from the Persian Gulf (Bahrain) to New South Wales. The term is often used synonymous with pinctada vulgaris and confused with pinctada imbricata of the Atlantic ocean, although pearl collectors tend to use it more specifically for the pink-nacred pinctada varieties that lives around undersea freshwater vents or river estuaries. The only real difference to pinctada radiata is its far lower saline tolerance and its tendency to produce pearls in the orange/pink/lavender range. The p. imbricata was frequently used as a donor in early transgrafting experiments at Lake Biwa. The most extensive beds of the pink-nacred pinctada varieties are around the Ganges river delta on the coast of Bangladesh in particular around Cittagong. If you know German, I recommend Elisabeth Strack's tome called Perlen.

Zeide G. Erskine

[CortezPearls]

Hi Martinez,

If you do find a Pinctada imbricata or Pteria colymbus Pearl bed please inform us all! Been trying to find one in the Gulf of México and Mexican Caribbean region to no avail.

Back in 1994 there was a US prospection team in Isla Margarita (Margaratronics Inc. was the company's name, I think...) trying to localize some natural pearl beds. A researcher by the last name of Borrero (from Colombia) had found some small beds of both species.

Happy Hunting!

[MABE BRAZIL]

Hi Martinez,
In Brazil, we have Pinctada imbricata from south to NE beachs, what varies is the deep (between 5 to 75 m). They ussualy are between the rocks and crevices. I did not see any kind of beds.

Ricardo Cunha Lima