What to do with Winged oyster?

[chi huynh]

Dear friends,
I found a good numbers of winged oysters in Vietnam.
I am not sure what to do with them. They are big from 6'' to 10''.
There are all kind of pearl oysters in my farm. I love to experiment with them.
Thanks
Chi Galatea Huynh

[pattye]

Hi Chi,

Wow, those are pretty big! What does the shell look like inside? Do they ever have natural pearls? Can they be nucleated? We would love to hear about your experiments......

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[GemGeek]

Wow, those are big! I admire the tenacity it took to make the gemstone within a pearl a reality. But I think you had some fun along the way...

Cheers,
Blaire

[knotty panda]

Clearly I don't have a clue what to do with a winged oyster, but I'm sure you will discover something thoroughly amazing to do with them. I that you in the photo looking at us? And who is the gentleman with you? We like oysters and people too.

[jshepherd]

Pteria sterna - the original mabe-gai. The Chinese are currently using them for mabe pearl production.

[Valeria101]

There are all kind of pearl oysters in my farm. I love to experiment with them.

How wonderful!

Are your Pterias carrying pearls already?

Full pearls and buttons seem very unusual compared to mabe pearls from these... in fact, I wouldn't know where to look for anything but mabe and only saw one Pteria Sterna that as not a mabe pearl but a high button, and even that was not cultured.

Maybe you could change that!

[chi huynh]

Hi Chi,

Wow, those are pretty big! What does the shell look like inside? Do they ever have natural pearls? Can they be nucleated? We would love to hear about your experiments......

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

Pattye,

Here is the inside of the shell. Some are white and this one has a beautiful golden color. I am thinking of making golden mabe pearl withe the gem inside.
Chi

[chi huynh]

Clearly I don't have a clue what to do with a winged oyster, but I'm sure you will discover something thoroughly amazing to do with them. I that you in the photo looking at us? And who is the gentleman with you? We like oysters and people too.

Yes, that's me on the right last month and my nephew on the left, he live in Vietnam. Now you know what I look like, still want to talk?
Chi

[chi huynh]

How wonderful!

Are your Pterias carrying pearls already?

Full pearls and buttons seem very unusual compared to mabe pearls from these... in fact, I wouldn't know where to look for anything but mabe and only saw one Pteria Sterna that as not a mabe pearl but a high button, and even that was not cultured.

Maybe you could change that!

Great idea!
Thank for believing in me.
I will find a way culture a pearl. There must be away. Any one know this please tell me so I don't have to eat many of them for dinner. By the way they are good eating.
Chi

[Pearling Technologies]

Some farms were using the penguin shell for producing mabe in Australia. Earlier on some had tried to implant spherical nuclei although not sure that they had much success. These shells have been known to exist in almost plague proportions in the North although where possible, farmers went for black lip or akoya shells to get into the round pearl production for greater potential returns (albeit at greater cost).

[CortezPearls]

Pteria sterna - the original mabe-gai. The Chinese are currently using them for mabe pearl production.

Just a small corrective note. It is a Pteria penguin or Mabe-Gai or Penguin Shaped Pearl Oyster or Black Winged Oyster...the scientific name remains.
The Pteria sterna is the Concha Nácar or Rainbow Lipped Oyster from the American Pacific Coast. A cousin species...I am sure Jeremy made a small honest mistake (can happen to anybody) there, specially if you are constantly move from species to species when you write.
The Rainbow Lipped is the photo I have attached.

[Ragnorak]

Some farms were using the penguin shell for producing mabe in Australia.

I know the place I worked at tried to do something with pteria penguins but it didn't last past the lets see if we can stick mabe beads in them stage.

They weren't the easiest thing to open. The adductor muscles were small, relative to what we were used to, meaning that there was a greater number that ended up with a torn muscle. Never mind that the shell being so thin had a habbit of cracking around the pegs used to hold them open. Let alone trying to find the gap in the first place.

Oh and the joy of trying to super glue mabe beads to a highly curved surface left a lot to be desired. Besides we couldn't fit that many in and considering the price of mabes at the time, it just wasn't worth the effort.