why do oysters have pearls?

Question

why do they make them and what do they use them for...?
(i didn't know which catagory to put this in... so i just chose this)

Answer 1

Pearls are made when a piece of rock or sand or some other kind of irritant gets into the oyster. The oyster secretes a substance over the irritant- eventually this forms a pearl, which gets bigger and bigger the longer it's in the oyster. So, pearls are kind of oyster spitballs. The oyster doesn't use the pearl for anything.

Answer 2

Pearls start out as a grain of sand the gets into the oyster and irritates it. What makes the pearl is the stuff the oyster secretes to cover the sand. The pearl becomes bigger and bigger with each layer of the gunk the oyster produces to defend against the foreign object it can't get rid of.

Answer 3

The birth of a pearl is truly a miraculous event. Unlike gemstones or precious metals that must be mined from the earth, pearls are grown by live oysters. Pearls are born from their mother oysters with a shimmering iridescence that is unlike any other gem on earth. To produce cultured pearls a tiny foreign object, usually a small piece of polished shell, is implanted as an irritant inside the oyster or mussel. In an effort to ease this irritant the oyster secretes a smooth hard crystalline substance around the irritant. This substance is called nacre. As long as the irritant remains in the oyster nacre will be secreted. The longer it remains in the oyster the larger the pearl.

Answer 4

The oyster is a bivalve (two-shelled) mollusc. The living animal lives its entire adult life inside the shell which it opens to feed, expell waste and to breathe. The lining of the shell is made up of a type of calcium carbonate (basically the same stuff that chalk is made of) which is very smooth and shiney. This is called "Mother of Pearl" and it functions to provide a smooth surface on which the animal rests whilst in the shell.

Occasionally a particle such as a grain of sand or grit will get inside the oyster's shell. This probably causes an irritation something like we experience when lying in a bed full of crumbs. As it has no means of removing this irritation the oyster instead responds by coating the particle with layer upon layer of Mother of Pearl in order to lessen the irritation.

Thus, if you cut a pearl in half you will find that it looks a bit like an onion, with many layers one inside the other and in the centre will be the tiny grain of sand that started the whole thing off.

Answer 5

Not all oysters produce pearls. In fact, in a haul of three tons of oysters, only around three or four oysters produce perfect pearls.

These 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 6

The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this: irritations get into his shell. He does not like them. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has a chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl.

Answer 7

they make them when a grain of sand gets inside their shell. when it starts to irritate the oyster, they make some kind of substance around the sand in an effort to get rid of the irritation. as time goes by the substance gets harder& develops more layers until a "pearl" is formed. then if someone catches the oyster, they take the pearl out, then sell it to a jeweler who then fashions it into the pearl we all see on necklaces,etc.

Answer 8

When a grain of sand gets into the oyster it irritates the oyster so to counter act that the oyster secrets a fluid that hardens around the sand and smooths it out so it doesn't bother the oyster anymore. there's a bit more to the scientific explanation but that's the jist of it. oh and the category should be science but oh well.

Answer 9

A pearl forms when a grain of sand gets inside the shell, and over a period of time deposits form around it. There are places that "culture" pearls, ie. grow them artificially by putting a grain of sand inside a live oyster and waiting for it to mature.
Natural pearls tend to be harder to find and thus more expensive to buy.

Answer 10

when a piece of sand or some matter gets imbedded ito the internal tissues of an oyster, it secretes the pearl substance aorund the foriegn matter to keep it form causing irritation, this is, in fact, counted on by humans, who purposley introduce this foreign matter into oyster, to "create" pearls for sale. how ever, natural pearls can be more valuable.