Movin? On?.The ES School of Pearl Appreciation

[Caitlin]

As the academians like to say, ?Give credit where credit is due?. I think there is a school of pearl appreciation around here and I think a major source of it should be attributable to the influence of Elisabeth Strack, author of ?Perlen? in German, translated to English last years as, ?Pearls?.

Strack is taking the pearl world by storm. A small quiet woman, a scholar and scientist who has examined every aspect of pearls with a curious and open mind and a fearless heart, she has written a text that lays open the secrets of the pearl trade for all to see.

Most of her findings are not startling in their implications, such as her outline of the mollusks that produce pearls. She strongly disapproves of the term ?oyster? however, as pearls do not grow in oysters such as the kind we eat (which are entirely non-nacreous). That is her myth buster Number One. Don?t use the term oysters any more; it is politically incorrect for educated pearl people to indulge in such blatant errors. Use ?mollusk? because that term includes all shelled creatures that produce pearls. Or use the name of the specific mollusk, ie, abalone, akoya, mussel, maxima, etc.

How pearls are formed is her myth buster number two. Forget the ?grain of sand? thing, forever. Pearls form in response to an intrusion into the mollusk?s mantle (or gonad) that carries epithelial cells down into the tissues. The epithelial cells are the ones that secrete the substances needed to line the inside of the shell with nacre. These epithelial cells continue to produce nacre no matter where they are in the mussel. In this case the cells are trapped inside the mantle, creating little pockets that contain the nacre accretions deposited by the cells. These accretions are known as pearls.

If you follow the ESSPA, you will make friends with individual kinds of mollusks and learn to recognize many of them by their proper names. If you have a favorite kind of pearl, you will learn the name of the mollusk that produces it and as much other information about it as you care to learn.

You will learn the qualities that make a good pearl and an outstanding pearl. You will learn enough about the processing of cultured pearls to surprise you. You will learn to recognize and beware of over-processed pearls.

And that is just the beginning of the education waiting you in the best text on pearls for 100 years. I have become an unabashed Strack fan, and I know I am on the cutting edge of knowledge in the pearl world. I expect this book will be recognized as setting the standard for pearl education very soon. And all of us pearl fans can be as educated as the pros, just by reading this book and using it as a reference.

 

[hacostas]

Dear All
Although I?m new to posting in this forum I have been a regular reader for some time. I have learned many new things from this forum and I would like to contribute with a bit of information for you to consider.

I did some (scientific) literature review to see what common names are applied to these pearl producing ?marine- bivalves (molluscs). Most of the time common names in bivalves are divided along the level of ?Family? in the taxonomic divisions. Unfortunately, ?common? names are not that common, what is called one term in a country or region doesn?t necessarily apply to a different place (I guess pearl oysters may be called ?mussels? in Germany). All scientific articles name animals belonging to the genus Pinctada or the genus Pteria, as ?Pearl oysters?. No single article (I?ve seen) calls them ?mussels? or ?scallops?.

With the aim of supporting this I provide, in the next paragraphs, some anatomical differences between members of different bivalve families (mussels, scallops, oysters and pearl oysters)

As I have said, pearl oysters (Pinctada and Pteria being the most common species used for marine pearl production) are members of the Family Pteriidae.
All scallops are members of the Family Pectinidae. Mussels (marine) are members of the Family Mytilidae and oysters are members of the Family Ostreidae.
Here are some similarities and differences between all these families:
Pectinidae (Scallops): Most members of this family can swim. This is different to marine mussels, oysters and pearl oysters. Most of these species also exhibit radial ?ribs?, very characteristic to scallops. The mantle of scallops is highly developed and contains numerous ?eyes?. This feature is absent in oysters, mussels and pearl oysters. Furthermore, scallops do not produce nacre (or mother-of-pearl). Pearl oysters do, as do mussels. The gonad in scallops is a well-defined organ separated from the rest of the organs. In oysters and pearl oysters the gonad surrounds the digestive gland and is more a discrete organ which is hard to tell where it starts and where it ends.
Mytilidae (marine mussels): Members of this family are commonly associated to intertidal areas (that is the zone between low tide and high tide). Scallops and pearl oysters are never associated to this area. Oysters are. Mussels show 2 adductor muscles. Pearl oysters, oysters and scallops only have 1 adductor muscle. Mussels unique feature is the location of the gonads in the mantle, as well as in the body.

All scientific articles name Pinctada and Pteria (and Electroma) as ?pearl oysters? (not just ?oysters?, oysters is wrong for these species). Certainly they are not scallops or mussels. They may be closely related, after all they are bivalves.

I hope this information helps this forum at making more uniform the naming of ?marine- animals producing pearls. I?d invite everyone in this forum to start calling Pinctada or Pteria species by their most accepted common name: ?Pearl oysters? (?ostras perleras? in Spanish; ?huitres perlieres? in French?).

Hector Acosta-Salmon

 

[Slraep]

Hi Hector,

You are perfectly correct. At present, in all academic circles regarding pearl culture and research, most of the time molluscs are referred to by their proper latin names. And the term "pearl oyster" has been commonly used in the industry for ages now.

The important thing is to use the "pearl" prefix when speaking of a mollusc from the oyster family that is capable of bearing pearls.

I guess "pearl mollusc" is what Ms. Strack wants us to start adopting instead of "pearl oyster". That's cool with me. "Mollusc" sounds a lot brainier than "oyster" anyway. And goodness knows I need some replenishment in that department.

Slraep

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Hector

Nice article. thank you. When I used the term "mussels", I actually meant the freshwater kind that bear pearls. I was kind of mooshing things together, I guess. Your distinctions were a whole lot more scholarly than mine!

I like calling the pearl oysters "pinctada" or "pteria" and if you know the last name too, that is great. like pinctada maxima or pteria sterna.

As far as freshwater pearls go, "mussels" as a general term is still ok, because the majority of the CCFWP seem to be hyriopsis cummingii (yes?) so we don't need to know each type by name name yet, yet there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of kinds of pearl bearing freshwater mussels ----most of them in the US! So many mussels have a family name of unio, that unio is a good generic name I like. I am trying to collect unios articles from every state.

If those Vietnanese CFW pearls ever come on the market, we may need to start differentiating by mussel name. I see that as like learning the difference between a Merlot and and Cabernet or Chardonnay. I certainly hope freshwater perliculture, at least, spreads into little operations with fancy kinds of mussels, all over the place. After all, it appears that there are hundreds of types of pearl bearing mussels, out there, each one adapted to slightly different growing conditions and regions.

As long as I am wishing and hoping, I would love to see CFWP operations in the US- in fact, all over North, and South America and Europe. In fact, I know our member, Mabe Pearl from SA, is doing some mussel growing - in tanks! I would love to have some mussels growing in a tank or pond in my back yard. It is pure fantasy at this point, but I love to hypothetically learn what I will need to know to do that.

 

[Valeria101]

Hm... need that book!

From your description, it doesn't sound like any concerted marketing effort (i.e. black & white standard of good and bad... instructions for appreciation) but allot of data that 1-2-3 carefree pearl shopping experience flies right over.

Which sort of makes sense, given that she is an appraiser (i.e. in the business of identifying and evaluation) not a marketer (i.e. in the business of telling folks what to like). ...

Is there any preference expressed in the book? If not, it might be fun to ask

 

[perlas]

I guess "pearl mollusc" is what Ms. Strack wants us to start adopting instead of "pearl oyster". That's cool with me. "Mollusc" sounds a lot brainier than "oyster" anyway. And goodness knows I need some replenishment in that department.

Hi Slraep,

I don't think you need replenishment.
I like reading your posts. Your threads and posts are interesting and informative and your opinions make a lot of sense.