Is the abalone not used because it is salt water?  I think it has been used
at some point.  I can't remember now, but doesn't it produce a different
looking pearl?
 
Sylvia S. Edwards
Huntsville, Alabama
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----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew K. Rindsberg <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Pearl seeds - why use fresh-water clams?
 
 
> Ross Mayhew asks,
> "Can any one tell me why the Japanese 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?"
>
> Commercial collecting of mussels is regulated on a state-by-state basis,
> and, at least in legal theory, the collectors harvest only from the common
> species. It is illegal to collect endangered species for commercial
> purposes, of course.
>
> The Japanese use American freshwater shells for pearl nuclei because
> molluscan diseases are unlikely to be transmitted from fresh water to salt
> water. Pearl oysters are prone to fungal and other diseases, apparently.
> Unsurprisingly, aragonitic molluscan shell makes a good base for
depositing
> aragonitic mother-of-pearl. I have no doubt that the Japanese have tested
> many substances for this purpose, including artificial ones, and have
> achieved the most efficient results this way. Freshwater musselshell
cannot
> be the most convenient substance for them to use, but it's probably the
> best.
>
> Andrew K. Rindsberg
> Geological Survey of Alabama
>