Vietnam: Shell Nuclei, Pearl Hatcheries, and Pearl Farming

Internal Structures of Known Pinctada Maxima Pearls: Cultured Pearls from Operated Marine Mollusks

“…The general technique for cultivating saltwater BC pearls was originally developed for the Japanese akoya pearl culturing industry before being accepted for other culturing operations globally (Otter et al, 2017). It begins with the insertion of a bead nucleus (referred to as a seeding or nucleation process), along with a small piece of mantle tissue (saibo in Japanese) that is cut from a donor mollusk in a grafting process and subsequently inserted into the gonad of a living host mollusk (Al-Alawi et al, 2020;Sturman et al, 2020). Shell bead nuclei are usually fashioned from American freshwater mussels of the Unionidae family such as washboard (Megalonaias nervosa), ebony (Fusconaia ebena), and three-ridge (Amblema plicata), which are the most widely used source material for saltwater BC pearl production (Hsu et al, 2016;Sturman et al, 2020).…”

“…It begins with the insertion of a bead nucleus (referred to as a seeding or nucleation process), along with a small piece of mantle tissue (saibo in Japanese) that is cut from a donor mollusk in a grafting process and subsequently inserted into the gonad of a living host mollusk (Al-Alawi et al, 2020;Sturman et al, 2020). Shell bead nuclei are usually fashioned from American freshwater mussels of the Unionidae family such as washboard (Megalonaias nervosa), ebony (Fusconaia ebena), and three-ridge (Amblema plicata), which are the most widely used source material for saltwater BC pearl production (Hsu et al, 2016;Sturman et al, 2020). Other materials have been used on an experimental basis in place of traditional shell beads, including plastic, resin, gemstones, dolomite, bironite, organic gelatinous polymer (superabsorbent polymer, or SAP), low-quality natural pearls, freshwater NBC pearls, and shell beads Figure 1.…”