"A Tall Tale of Green Pearls" Blog Post

[pattye]

How perfect for St. Patrick's Day!

 

[BWeaves]

Coool! That was fascinating.

 

[Naan]

WOW! Natural green pearl! Amazing! Fascinating pearl! Green pearl made my heart beat so fast! Thanks!

 

[Naan]

We need more photos!

 

[GemGeek]

Great article!

 

[amti]

Very cool Dave!

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

We need more photos!

Here's a few

 

[Katbran]

Wow ! Dave's already found his Jade lol Amazing colours !!

 

[CathyKeshi]

I was thinking these looked like jade too ... astonishing, Dave ... and Thanks!

 

[Tucs]

Wow! Amazing, I keep being surprised by pearls... their variety is mind blowing...

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Rock Oysters are sometimes called jingle shells because they're often used to make mobiles and wind chimes.

We call them podo pearls, short for Pododesmus machochisma. They break all the rules and bust a few myths as well.

It was long assumed the characteristic green color present in podos was algae infiltrating the porous structures of their highly calcitic shells. These creatures live in shallow water. It's natural shells become stained in algae, but the physiology of shell structure is something yet again. The discovery of tiny pearls in otherwise fully metabolic, sterile settings put this myth to an end.

They revealed much more though. Not only can pearls be translucent, they can be nearly transparent.

The color of a pearl is determined by protein, not it's crystalline structure. While environmental factors almost always cause pearls, it has no immediate effect on color. While seasonal changes affect the density of color, brackish or enriched mineral water claims affecting color are false.

Pearls can appear spontaneously in sterile settings. In complete absence of absence of parasites, disease or injury and have no visible nucleus.

All shells of mollusks and gastropods (and their pearls) are nacreous, irrespective of shell structure or appearance.

Rock Oysters and their scallop cousins are structured in foliated calcite. This is a departure from the classic properties of terraced aragonite common in pearl oysters, mussels, abalone etc.

They grow wild and fast. Under docks and along the rocky shore in numerous places in the sound.

 

[lisa c]

And of course, being human I want some exactly that color, big enough to see, so we must find a way to grow them!!! Will I live long enough, Dave?

pearls made in sterile environments - so Mikkey is right, some critters just make pearls for fun.

 

[kelluvpearls]

They look like green jelly blobs!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Great photos Dave ... and fascinating. What are the bright red dots on the shell on the lower right side of the photo?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Great photos Dave ... and fascinating. What are the bright red dots on the shell on the lower right side of the photo?

They are tiny Stalked Hairy Sea Squirts (Boltenia villosa)

 

[CathyKeshi]

Thanks Dave ... I think I'd like to see a "tiny Stalked Hairy Sea Squirt" close up

 

[Naan]

Thank you Dave! That is something new and amazing! I love them!

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

And of course, being human I want some exactly that color, big enough to see, so we must find a way to grow them!!! Will I live long enough, Dave?

Hopefully. There's plenty in the wild. With a little special handling when they're small they grow into a production oyster not unlike akoya for size and thickness. Some are big as tahitian or soc graft candidates.

I've got a small inventory. Other than samples for the lab, I'm going hold them for one more year. Plus add an equal amount this season. The plan is to graft them in 2017 and 2018.

 

[CathyKeshi]

That should be an exciting experiment, Dave!

 

[pattye]

This is so cool, Dave; thank you for sharing your great adventures and experiments.