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Well if you know how pearls are formed, it is when a grain of sand or something else irritating a clam, it will secrete nacre. That will layer overtime until that intruder is fully in cased in the nacre, or what we call, a pearl. Same thing applies to the parasite, If that thing has somehow wedges through the shell of the clam and is irritating it, the clam will release the nacre, covering the parasite. Well, it will keep getting bigger until the pearl comes out or someone/ something will take it out of them. These are life threatening to the clams if it keeps growing in them, even if releasing the nacre is a self defense mechanism.

So the main point is, you might be wearing some dead parasites or other things that lodged into a clam as a fashion accessory. And these sell for pretty high numbers too!

Note: You cannot really see the encased being unless you look really closely or with a microscope.

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13y ago

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Natural pearlsContrary to popular belief, a natural pearls is not formed by a grain of sand. This story is an urban legend.A natural pearl forms inside a bivalve mollusk when the shell has been invaded by a parasite or damaged. The most common reason a natural pearl will develop is due to parasitic invasion.The parasite wil burrow through the periostracum layer (outer layer) of a mollusk shell and into the mother-of-pearl beneath. When the parasite penetrates the mother of pearl in comes in contact with the mollusk's mantle muscle. This muscle contains cells known as epithelial cells. These cells produce a substance called nacre which coats the inside of the shell (mother-of-pearl) and is the substance of which a pearl is composed.The parasite becomes lodged in this mantle muscle and dies. The mollusk's definsive reaction is to grow a sac around the intruder. This sac is called the pearl sac. Once the sac encases the intruder the cells begin to deposit nacre- which is composed of aragonite and calcite (a calcium carbonate compound) platelets.Cultured PearlsCultured (marine) pearls are grown by inserting a rounded bead of mother-of-pearl and a piece of mantle tissue containing epithelial cells from a donor mollusk into the gonad, or reproductive organ, of a host mollusk. The donor tissue grows into a pearl sac around the bead. As in natural pearl production, this sac then deposits nacre.


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Natural pearlsContrary to popular belief, a natural pearls is notformed by a grain of sand. This story is an urban legend.A natural pearl forms inside a bivalve mollusk when the shell has been invaded by a parasite or damaged. The most common reason a natural pearl will develop is due to parasitic invasion.The parasite wil burrow through the periostracum layer (outer layer) of a mollusk shell and into the mother-of-pearl beneath. When the parasite penetrates the mother of pearl in comes in contact with the mollusk's mantle muscle. This muscle contains cells known as epithelial cells. These cells produce a substance called nacre which coats the inside of the shell (mother-of-pearl) and is the substance of which a pearl is composed.The parasite becomes lodged in this mantle muscle and dies. The mollusk's definsive reaction is to grow a sac around the intruder. This sac is called the pearl sac. Once the sac encases the intruder the cells begin to deposit nacre- which is composed of aragonite and calcite (a calcium carbonate compound) platelets.Cultured PearlsCultured (marine) pearls are grown by inserting a rounded bead of mother-of-pearl and a piece of mantle tissue containing epithelial cells from a donor mollusk into the gonad, or reproductive organ, of a host mollusk. The donor tissue grows into a pearl sac around the bead. As in natural pearl production, this sac then deposits nacre.Maturity time of artificial oyester pearl


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