Natural freshwater pearls occur in mussels for the same reason that saltwater pearls occur in oysters. Foreign material, usually a sharp object or parasite, enters a mussel and cannot be expelled.

Yet the oyster deaths continued long after the ... author of a book on pearls (see History of Pearls and Culture of Freshwater Pearls). "I would never attribute it to an unidentified mystery ...

Most pearls come from oysters, which thrive in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Oysters are bivalves that means their shell is composed of two valves connected by an elastic ligament.

Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly ...

Simply sign up to the Sustainability myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. Produced by oysters in oceans or mussels in rivers, pearls have been coveted by humans since the Bronze Age.

Oysters are used to make beer In Victorian ... In fact, Julius Caesar's desire to get his hands on our freshwater pearls is thought to have been his motivation behind invading the British Isles.

The Pinctada maxima oyster can take up to five years to produce a single South Sea pearl, whereas more common freshwater oysters can take as little as three months and create dozens of pearls.

The luxury jeweler’s third launch of the collaborative collection introduces the darker and rarer Tahitian pearl alongside a ...