What Are Marine Pearls?

Pearls are formed from mollusks.

Marine pearls are obtained from mollusks. Mollusks are shellfish that have a hard outer shell and soft inner body. Marine pearls are created by the mollusk coating an irritant, such as food, that is trapped in it's shell. Over time this creates the pearl.

History

Mollusks are more than 500 million years old, and over the years, pearls have been found in many extinct species. Pearl hunting was one of the only ways to obtain pearls prior to the 20th century. This method is now virtually extinct due to "perliculture," the man-made process of creating pearls.

Natural Pearls

Pearls are created by mollusks; they have a soft inside and a hard exterior similar to a clam. There are over 100,000 known types of mollusks. Natural pearls made by mollusks are rare; only about one in 10,000 are able to create pearls on their own.

Man-Made Pearls

Mollusks can be raised in a man-made environment to manipulate them into forming pearls in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. The process of creating pearls was developed by Kokichi Mikimoto.

References

• Mollusks: Phylum Mollusca
• American Museum of Natural History: Marine Pearls

Resources

• Pure Pearls