At 05:02 PM 4/28/99 +0000, you wrote:
>Can any one tell me why the Japaneese pearl industry does not just use
>some other material except fresh-water clams, many of which are
>endangered spp now because their habitat is nearly destroyed??  Surely
>there are other materials just as good - natural or synthetic?
>--
 
Part of the problem, according to the pearl people, is that other
substances fracture when drilled to make pearl strands, although ceramic
beads have been successfully used in India. My question is: why use North
American mussel shell as nuclei, when there are plenty of mussels with
thick-enough and white-enough shells in Asia to suffice (including Japan's
Lake Biwa)? Again they will tell you this has to do with the density of
shell material, drilling, etc. Bull. In my opinion, they use North American
shells because they already have an army of people willing to collect
shells, even illegally, dirt cheap. Think of the profit - washboards
(Megalonaias nervosa), probably the most prized commercial species, can
sell for $7/lb on a good day. Most species go for much less. A pound of
formed nuclei sells for hundreds, even thousands. And how much does a pound
of pearls sell for? Do the math. Furthermore, if you think the clammers can
differentiate between common and endangered species - think again. In Ohio
poachers have been caught with hundreds of live Ohio endangered species.
There are federally endangered mussels that only a handful of experts can
tell apart from the common taxa (Pleurobema plenum, male Lampsilis abrupta,
etc.) - do you think these clammers can tell the difference?
 
 
 
*****************************************
 G Thomas Watters
 Ohio Biological Survey &
 Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
 Ohio State University
 1315 Kinnear Road
 Columbus, OH 43212 USA
 v: 614-292-6170  f: 614-292-0181
******************************************
 
"The world is my oyster except for months with an 'R' in them" - Firesign
Theater
 
"If I only had a brain" - The Scarecrow