How do oysters make pearl and how long does it takes?

Answer 1

Pearls are the result of a biological process -- the oyster's way of protecting itself from foreign substances.

Oysters are not the only type of mollusk that can produce pearls. Clams and mussels can also produce pearls, but that is a much rarer occurrence. Most pearls are produced by oysters in both freshwater and saltwater environments. To understand how pearls are formed in oysters, you must first understand an oyster's basic anatomy.

Oysters are bivalves, which means that its shell is made of two parts, or valves. The shell's valves are held together by an elastic ligament. This ligament is positioned where the valves come together, and usually keeps the valves open so the oyster can eat.

These are the parts of an oyster inside the shell:

* Mouth (palps)
* Stomach
* Heart
* Intestines
* Gills
* Anus
* Abductor muscle
* Mantle

As the oyster grows in size, its shell must also grow. The mantle is an organ that produces the oyster's shell, using minerals from the oyster's food. The material created by the mantle is called nacre. Nacre lines the inside of the shell.

The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritates the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The mantle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl.

So a pearl is a foreign substance covered with layers of nacre. Most pearls that we see in jewelry stores are nicely rounded objects, which are the most valuable ones. Not all pearls turn out so well. Some pearls form in an uneven shape -- these are called baroque pearls. Pearls, as you've probably noticed, come in a variety of various colors, including white, black, gray, red, blue and green. Most pearls can be found all over the world, but black pearls are indigenous to the South Pacific.

Cultured pearls are created by the same process as natural pearls, but are given a slight nudge by pearl harvesters. To create a cultured pearl, the harvester opens the oyster shell and cuts a small slit in the mantle tissue. Small irritants are then inserted under the mantle. In freshwater cultured pearls, cutting the mantle is enough to induce the nacre secretion that produces a pearl -- an irritant doesn't have to be inserted.

While cultured and natural pearls are considered to be of equal quality, cultured pearls are generally less expensive because they aren't as rare.

Answer 2

Oysters produce pearls by covering an invading piece of grit with nacre (or as most know it, mother-of-pearl). Over the years, the grit is covered with enough nacre to form what we know as a pearl. There are many different types and colours and shapes of pearl, but this depends on the pigment of the nacre and the shape of the piece of grit being covered over.

Pearls can also be cultivated by pearl farmers placing a single piece of grit, usually a piece of polished mussel shell, inside the oyster. In three to six years, the oyster will produce a perfect pearl. These pearls are not as valuable as natural pearls, but look exactly the same.

Answer 3

Oysters surround a piece of sand or whatever else gets into their shell and irritates them with nnacre which is pretty much the same thing their shells are made of. t takes thousands of layers to make a pearl. A 3mm pearl can take as long as 3-5 years to make.

Answer 4

I know it takes a while unsure the exect amount but the pearl is from sand getting into the shell and the oyster trys to rub it off and it creates a pearl

Answer 5

To put it simply:
Foreign object (like a grain of sand) gets inside oyster. This irritates the oyster, which secretes a substance to coat the object. Overtime, the coat builds up to become the nice, smooth milky sphere we've come to know as the pearl.

As for how long it takes, even the smallest pearls take years to form naturally.

Answer 6

For centuries, humans have treasured pearls. The lustrous play of light across the surfaces of good pearls is so attractive that people have paid fortunes for them, even though they have no human use except adornment.

Pearls actually come in many colors, sizes, and shapes, and are ranked in value according to these qualities. Perfectly round ones with a deep glowing luster, particularly in unusual colors that also show an iridescence (or orient), have always been the most prized and expensive; dull, irregular ones the least.

Pearls come from a group of water organisms called pearl molluscs, which includes oysters, mussels, and clams from both freshwater and saltwater. The pearl itself actually begins as an irritant. Sand, a pebble, or a pesky parasitic organism gets inside the oyster's shell. To reduce the irritation, the oyster coats the intruder with layers of a solid, slick material called nacre.

The oyster's mantle tissue secretes the two main components of nacre: thin layers of the mineral aragoniteand a gluelike substance called conchiolin, which cements the layers together. Because the aragonite is translucent, light interacts with the overlapping layers to give the finished pearl its lustrous appearance. Pearl molluscs also coat the inside of their own shells with nacre, so some shells picked up at a seashore are shiny and iridescent inside.

Pearls used to be harvested by divers. However, it is a dangerous occupation and natural pearls of high quality are rare. People have now learned to farm pearl molluscs specifically to produce cultured pearls, small beads with layers of pearl material around them. Oyster larvae (called spat) are allowed to settle in sheltered locations underwater. Once they have attached themselves to ropes or rafts, the young oysters are grown for a few years. Then their shells are opened just wide enough to surgically insert a small pearl bead and a piece of mantle tissue from another mollusc into the soft tissue. This nucleation process provides the oyster with a spherical irritant to coat with nacre, increasing the likelihood of a symmetrical, round pearl. The farmer removes the cultured pearl from the oyster one to three years later. Cultured pearls, produced around the world, account for about 90 percent of all pearl sales.

Answer 7

for pearls like the ones on necklaces divers go down and string oysters to a net and put a piece of plastic or something inside the oyster and then after like 2 months it becomes a pearl.

Answer 8

A foreign substance, like a grain of sand or a small piece of calcium gets lodged in the clam or oyster's flesh. layers of pearl deposit.

Takes about 2 years, or longer... Often longer.

Answer 9

A piece of sand gets trapped inside the oyster, and after time develops into a pearl. I dunno how long it takes....months though.

Answer 10

look when it rains a drop comes into stays and then turns into pearl someone said me 30 yrs
i didnt believe him