A cultured pearl is any pearl grown with the influence of human intervention. A pearl is formed when the mantle tissue is injured by a parasite, an attack of a fish or another event that damages the external fragile rim of the shell of a mollusk shell bivalve or gastropod. In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre into the pearl sac, a cyst that forms during the healing process. cultured pearls are human creations formed by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, upon which a pearl sac forms, and the inner side precipitates calcium carbonate in the form of nacre.Natural pearls, are pearls formed by chance. Cultured pearls have been given a helping hand by man. Today, nearly all pearls are cultured. By inserting a foreign object into a mollusk, pearl farmers can induce the creation of a pearl. From there, the same process of natural pearl creation takes place. The difference is that in this case, the inducement is intentional. Cultured pearls can be distinguished from natural pearls through the use of x-rays, which reveal the inner part of the pearl. Cultured Pearls also tend to be the most consistently round and near-round pearls, making them ideal in terms of matching for multi-pearl jewelry such as strands and bracelets.
The development of pearl culturing took much of the chance, risk, and guesswork out of the pearl industry. It has allowed it to become stable and predictable, fostering rapid growth over the past 100 years. Today, the cultured pearl industry like Real Shoppee has essentially replaced the natural pearl industry with production of cultured freshwater, South Sea, Tahitian, and of course Mikimoto’s original akoya pearls. Any pearl that is grown and marketed today, (other than those from the Persian Gulf) are considered cultured pearls. This is because these pearls would not exist without human intervention. A freshwater pearl, although it may be solid nacre, is a cultured pearl where the mussel was nucleated with a piece of mantle tissue in their mantle tissue. All pearls cultured in saltwater are nucleated in the gonad with a piece of mantle tissue, and a mother-of-pearl bead, which is how akoya pearls are nucleated. This is why akoya pearls are cultured pearls, but they are saltwater, not freshwater, and much different in appearance and more valuable than freshwater pearls.
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