Add to favorites Examiner Bio

Tahitian black pearls, product of the black lipped oyster

 

In the warm waters of French Polynesia, the black lipped oyster (pinctada margaritifera) produces the pearls known as Tahitian blacks. P. margaritifera is the only mollusk that produces these pearls and they do so in places besides Tahiti, so the nomenclature is a little misleading. For the oyster to thrive and for production to occur, the major requirement is that the water be warm. So, Tahitian black pearls can be found also in the Philippines, Hawaii, Fiji, Panama, and the Gulf of Mexico.  

 

The Tahitian black pearl is a large pearl as pearls go. That’s because the black lipped oyster is a pretty big oyster as oysters go. The mollusk can grow to sizes approaching a foot across and ten pounds in weight. Its large infrastructure provides the growing room for pearls to grow large, with average pearl diameters from 8 to 14 mm, and larger ones not uncommon. The record holder is 21mm, and you can imagine it must have broken somebody’s bank to have that pearl. 

 

While the black lip is the only mollusk that produces black pearls, not all black lipped oysters produce pearls at all. A mere 30% of cultivated P. margaritiferas produce a pearl. So, what’s up with the cultivation process? 

 

Cultivation consists of nucleating the oyster with a bead. The bead is usually round and made of mother-of-pearl or similar hard shell-like substance. A person nucleates the oyster by prying the bi-valve shell open and inserting the bead. You can imagine this is annoying to the oyster, nevermind that an irritant is left in its innards. For its own comfort, the oyster internally exudes a saliva called nacre, which soothes the irritating effect of the nucleating bead. Layers upon layers of nacre build up, and for time periods up to two years, the bead is covered with the slimy secretions that result in a lustrous pearl. Two years! And there’s only one pearl! And remember, only three out of ten oysters so cultivated produce one pearl in those two years.   

 

P. margaritifera does it one at a time! No multiple production for this fair crustacean. Give reverence to that mother of pearls, the black lipped oyster, and value the beauty of its dark gems of the sea.