[anthony]

This website, and books on the subject, explain as follows:
"Natural pearls are formed when some sort of irritant becomes lodged in the tissue of an oyster or mollusk. In response to the irritation, the oyster secretes nacre which gradually builds up in layers around the irritant."

My question is: Is it a fact, do we really know, that the "pearlmakingprocess" begins because the mollusk is irritated?

Maybe the mollusk likes it when something becomes lodged!
Like a child or a dog plays with a ball...
because it is fun, not because it is irritating.
Who will ask the oyster?

And if we are not sure it is irritation, can we change the story? Making pearls a bestseller again.

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Corine,

Interesting thought. Actually, the irritant thing applies only to one cause of pearl formation and that is the dislodging of mantle tissue and the inversion of the nacre producing side so that it faces inward rather than outward. This particular aspect of pearl formation is being exploited in pearl culturing. Natural pearls can and do occur mostly for other reasons.

Zeide

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by anthony

My question is: Is it a fact, do we really know, that the "pearlmakingprocess" begins because the mollusk is irritated?

Maybe the mollusk likes it when something becomes lodged!
Like a child or a dog plays with a ball...
because it is fun, not because it is irritating.
Who will ask the oyster?

And if we are not sure it is irritation, can we change the story? Making pearls a bestseller again.

Hello Corine,

In natural pearl formation, it is quite possible that some highly playful and extremely athletic mollusks may find survival a bit on the boring side. Perhaps this is the way a mollusks relaxes and meditates on life in between dodging predators, finding shelter, avoiding being crushed by the surf into rocks, feeding and mating. Not to mention trying to breathe in some nice quality water without choking on cancer causing pollutants.

If we take cultured pearls as an example, I highly doubt that sticking MOP beads into mollusks does them any favours. Lots of them die because of this, so I don't think they look forward to any kind of game of ball. Sure, the resulting pearls are beautiful (I still find Kasumis to be so), but what mollusk wants a plaything shoved into their mantle? Or gonads? Yes, gonads. Just think how one of us would feel with a tennis-ball-like object stuck in our gonads while trying to go through daily life. A bit of a bother, really.

Ask an oyster? I think that up to 50% mortality rates for scallops in akoya production should be answer enough. Asking a mollusk with a natural pearl in it would be quite difficult since they are now extremely rare due to decimation of habitat, pollution and collection restictions.

Slraep

[anthony]

Hi Slraep and Zeide,

Thanks for your comments.

My line of reasoning started with the natural pearl formation,
in which case it could be irritating as well as pleasant for the mollusk. It might be an extra reason to think so (for tiny naturals) if in this "game" gonads are involved.

For pearl culturing the oyster will undoubtedly not be on the demanding side. Blame partly to the method. The high mortality rates for scallops in akoya production shows that it is not pleasant for mollusks to get unasked a big MOP bead shoved into their mantle.
But I suppose that it is not known if the dislodging of mantle tissue or the implanted bead irritates (or the fun is too exhaustive).

I understand the first technical answer of Zeide, just like the very funny explanation of Slraep, but it does not really answer my question.
Probably the answer is uncertain as long as there are no oysters to be interviewed. Until then it’s just a philosophical or psychological exercise: Why do we hold on to the “irritation story” instead of telling what we know, that one cause of pearl formation is the dislodging of mantle tissue and the inversion of the nacre producing side so that it faces inward rather than outward (the explanation of Zeide).

[Slraep]

Well, I guess that makes it a lot more than just a bit of a bother then. I wonder what mortality rates would be like for humans with basket balls implanted in their gonads. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Slraep

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by anthony

Hi Slraep and Zeide,

My line of reasoning started with the natural pearl formation,
in which case it could be irritating as well as pleasant for the mollusk. It might be an extra reason to think so (for tiny naturals) if in this "game" gonads are involved.

Probably the answer is uncertain as long as there are no oysters to be interviewed.

Hmmm........didn't know mollusks were into S&M. That would mean that some have developed particular, previously undetected, physical and psychological ***ual sensibilities and sensitivities. Most people think they are just above a chunk of rock, so this discovery would make sticking stuff into their various body cavities even more horrible. Quadruple ouch!!

Is the answer really that uncertain??

Slraep

[anthony]

So if "Most people think they are just
above a chunk of rock in terms of sensibility" which might be so
my question is still:

Why do we, when we talk about natural pearls, hold on to the “irritation story” instead of telling what we know, that one cause of pearl formation is the dislodging of mantle tissue and the inversion of the nacre producing side so that it faces inward rather than outward (the explanation of Zeide).

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by anthony

So if "Most people think they are just
above a chunk of rock in terms of sensibility" which might be so
my question is still:

Why do we, when we talk about natural pearls, hold on to the “irritation story” instead of telling what we know, that one cause of pearl formation is the dislodging of mantle tissue and the inversion of the nacre producing side so that it faces inward rather than outward (the explanation of Zeide).

Hi Corine,

We probably hold on to that theory because the mollusk finds the dislodging and inversion of its mantle tissue's nacre-producing side to be abnormal and irritating while the thing slowly migrates around its sensitive body. Ouch. Yowee. Ouch, ouch. Yikes!

But what do I know?? I am not a mollusk going crazy trying to "neutralize" weird abnormal tissue possibly heading towards my gonad.

Slraep

[icevic]

I know this is just a whimsical discussion, but I don't agree with projecting human thoughts and emotions onto shellfish. They don't have brains or thoughts. They are a crop to be harvested, and feel as much as an apple on a tree or a stalk of corn in a field.

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by icevic

I know this is just a whimsical discussion, but I don't agree with projecting human thoughts and emotions onto shellfish. They don't have brains or thoughts. They are a crop to be harvested, and feel as much as an apple on a tree or a stalk of corn in a field.

Hi Icevic,

We are not projecting human thoughts onto mollusks. Mollusks can think for themselves(in a mollusk way). It would be very scary if mollusks thought like humans.

Mollusks breathe, are mobile if their present conditions are uncomfortable, have developed interesting ways of dealing with predators, love to eat and mate. And they possibly have fun with intruding objects.

They are very much alive. Reguardless of whether they are thought of as a crop to be harvested.

Slraep

[Valeria101]

'Doubt that reminding of the physiological process is a nice point of romancing pearls... Hopefully they don't hurt! Can you imagine the sort of Karma oozing out of the product of a lifetime of botched implants !!?

Frankly... I never thought of that until this post. Along that line of thought, those 'pearl in shell' thingies would be as immoral as a hands-on course of grave robbing! 'Bet few others might have thought of pain while looking at pictures showing mollusks being harvested, nucleated, etc. Lets put it that way: a butcher would never display their 'victims' whole-bodied to attract customers, like fishmongers do, etc. I can't imagine mollusks 'happy' any more than 'hurt'... They are just too alien.

Any particular reason to worry about the violent streak in pearl stories?

[Slraep]

Originally Posted by Valeria101

Hopefully they don't hurt! Can you imagine the sort of Karma oozing out of the product of a lifetime of botched implants !!?

Hi Ana,

Yes, unfortunatly I can. "Oozing karma" is a great descriptive for it.

Slraep

[jshepherd]

The season is finally over...

My thoughts center on action and reaction. When you are discussing natural pearl formation, you are referring to irritation, or reaction to a particular sensation. This is not a psychological reaction as the mollusk has no brain. The reference to 'gonads' only leads to a human reaction based on human sensation and reality. That is irrelevant to a mussel. Discussing the 'fun' a mussel may have dislodging an intruder is near akin to the fun a lump of coal has developing into a diamond.

Maybe the better term for irritation (in laymen's terms) would be a word for the natural reaction of mollusks to a specific type of abnormality.

[jshepherd]

PS
I know I will catch flack for this, but it does not matter to me... The Akoya oyster is not a scallop. A scallop is a a "swimmer", although it can attach. An Akoya only has one choice. The same goes for the P. maxima, margaritifera, and others. Just because they have a leg does not a genus make. You know I am talking about the byssus, and I know you have been waiting for me to say this to take the world of biology on... ok! Let's see the argument!

[Valeria101]

This thread makes in-vitro pearls sound like a necessity!

Is there any research on mollusk pain receptors? It sounds odd that an immobile animal would have the same urgency to feel victimized by sensations it cannot avoid by design...