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Yes albeit not highly (at least on the surface). In every collection, I'll observe one or two percent as highly calcareous. All pearl sacs depend upon a multitude of e-cell types being present. This often varies between pearls, even in the same creature. Most can be picture perfect but others...

I should also add to this. It's actually four stages. Perio/myostracial --> Prismatic --> Nacreous --> Quiescence. In lay terms. Create a water tight barrier --> Build a structure --> Get comfortable --> Rest. Laying up nacre is a phase which is common to most molluscs. The only exceptions...

Me too, while they are country mile from gem quality, they are chocked full of science and wonder. Tiny pearls reveal big secrets!

Shell beads from FW mussels are indeed nacreous. Your point on the difference in aragonitic v nacreous stands to reason. Highly aragonitic ought to be used in a scientific context because it does not default to one aspect (iridescence and orient) while overlooking the other. Highly nacreous in...

I should add that aragonite, especially in winter months or among other species (ie) melo melo, conch etc. can appear perfectly clear. It does not always present with irridescence and orient. Those and colour are factors of interspersed proteins, namely conchiolin.

Highly aragonitic is correct in terms of shell structure where foliated calcite is not present. Perisotracial (conchiolin) --> Prismatic calcite --> Nacreous. These being the three stages of a growth period. While calcite is present in the prismatic phase of most molluscs (and pearls), it's more...

For several years, I've been vociferous to the extent a commonly used term "non-nacreous" is misleading if not erroneous. Between 2011 and 2015, I worked with Ana Vasiliu in the microscopy lab at the University of Paleontology and Stratigraphy in Granada, Spain. Initially our work was to use an...

Outstanding Steve! For a modern assembly, it's scarcely more exceptional than this. Well done, sir!

Thank you for the updated imagery. It's as I suggested. The pearl formed in the viscera then once excessive in size, burst from the sac then became fused to the shell. The margin between the shell and the pearl is narrow, thus it's only been affixed for the latter part of it's life. I'm...

Yeah I've never seen such a large intrusion v available space, especially in the visceral cavity. It's remarkable how the creature pretty much went full term life expectancy, so it was otherwise healthy. Edible oysters in northern latitudes grow quickly and don't live as long as other molluscs...

It's definitely an interesting specimen. The stippled surface is certainly unique having radiating columnar growth fronts. However, I would challenge the "blister" classification. From the limited aspects viewed in the images, it appears to be an attached pearl with a visible surface area...

Having not examined it personally, I'm not certain, but it's most likely tissue cultured. At first they would have had individual sacs. As they grew outward, they competed for the adjacent space. Once the spaces were reduced to a minimum, that part of the sac lost it's vascular viability, hence...

It's not caulking. It's bridging, which is modified epithelial behaviour when voided by spaces having acute angles. When mantles (and pearl sacs) become spaced from the shell (or pearl), they reshape themselves to eliminate any distance between. Mantles and shells must be in direct contact with...

It can be noted and much to the credit of the OP, the ultraviolet imagery presents uniformly contiguous prismatic calcite across the entire surface of the object. Glue would not appear in that manner.

Yes. It happens. Two or three is not uncommon, but occasionally clusters occur. Grafts in close proximity will grow in to one another while others may irrupt from the mantle and become fused to the shell. It's not limited to farms, but occurs in nature also.

I disagree. The geometry clearly demonstrates environmental congenital fusion. When multiple grafts are placed in a single recipient on an industrial volume and scale, this is bound to happen.

Rather than merely hit and run, I'd prefer it be part of a seminar or course. These things take time because it's part of curriculum that needs a proposal, planning and execution. I'd welcome students and scientists in related fields. Each of our group having a presentation time with imagery and...

Eventually I suppose. These and a few other specimens collected are in a specialty vault. They were collected at the Covid-19 onset thus the museum took quite a hit being closed to the public during that time. The good news being they've invited "my group" to examine their collection for the...

I collected this rare specimen from the Bow River near Brooks, Alberta in 2020. It's been ascended to the collection at the Royal Tyrell Museum. I'm not 100% sure of the species, but speculate Exogyra ponderosa. One is a myostracial (probably endogonadal) posterior ventral "loose" pearl. and...

Agreed, it's being taken in the direction to needs to go. All of this gives me pause. Our western way of thinking simply does not provide for what we're seeing here. You and I have a maritime coast not unlike Japan. Along the entire Pacific Rim, one farm in Mexico and a single research area in...