Part 3/4 - Pearl farming and black pearl farms

a) The black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada Margaritifera)

When nature ran out of natural black pearls, man stepped in, discovering the magical and mysterious method of simulating what nature did automatically.

The results are Tahitian black pearls and gray pearls, each developing their perfect shapes and colors in the deep turquoise waters of Polynesia's lagoons.

Cultivated by man, this fruit produced by the combined work of animal and mineral is the arbitrator of a constant dialogue between man and the elements.

Pampered from its earliest age in the womb of the black-lipped oyster, it perfects its beauty and luster over two long years. Scientists call these oysters by their tongue-twisting name of Pinctada Margaritifera. They are better known as the "mother-of-pearl", renowned for their size and ability to produce black pearls.

b) Shell Species Widely Found in Tropical Indo-Pacific Waters

In the extraordinarily complex world of mollusks, the bivalves-oysters, scallops, mussels, clams and giant clams--may not be the most numerous of species, but they are definitely the most coveted.

Strictly speaking, the black-lipped pearl oyster found in French Polynesia waters is not really an oyster, but a special type of mollusk. It's the bivalve mollusk, which has a laterally compressed body and an external shell consisting of two dorsally hinged valves. The shell of the Pinctada Margaritifera has a color ranging from gray to black and is formed from three layers.

Species of this shell are widely distributed throughout tropical Indo-Pacific waters from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of California and from Japan to the southern islands of the Pacific. More specifically, this oyster also is found in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, New Caledonia, the Philippines, Panama and the Gulf of California.

An adult Pinctada oyster can reach a diameter of 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), with a weight exceeding 5 kilograms (11 pounds). Rare specimens as large as 9 kilos (19.8 pounds) have been harvested.

In French Polynesia, the Pinctada Margaritifera is found in five archipelagoes that stretch from the Marquesas Islands in the north to the Austral Islands in the south and from the Leeward Islands in the west to the Gambier Islands in the east.

c) Each Oyster Lays 40 Million Eggs

This species of oyster demonstrates the peculiarity of undergoing a change of sex normally during the course of its life. Two to three years of growth are required before the oyster is ready for reproduction.

During its female stage, the mature Pinctada lays eggs all year. Only the extraordinary quantity of eggs produced -40 million per specimen- assures the survival of the species in its natural environment, where the spermatozoon must rely on a chance encounter for conception.

Developing larva then become prey for all sea creatures that eat plankton, including the living coral of the reefs. Surviving young oysters, once they develop bivalve shells, are called "spats". But they continue to be targets of many predators, including giant rays, octopus, crabs, starfish and trigger-fish.

d) Constant Care and Big Financial Risks

So the fragile Pinctada requires constant care from the farmers of the lagoons, who must take enormous financial risks to cultivate them for pearl production.

The atolls of the sprawling Tuamotu Archipelago are coral crowns growing on the summits of volcanoes that became dormant millions of years ago. Coral is a living structure that regenerates as erosion reduces it to dust.

Ecological miracles, the atolls draw their nutritive substances from the cold waters, which are rich in mineral salts lying at great depths, while the coral crown grows and spreads out through photosynthesis under a tropical sun. This is where pearl oysters find a favorable environment for their development.

The process of raising a pearl oyster is a long one and requires considerable care and attention because the species is fragile. French Polynesia's pearl farmers constantly watch over the black-lipped oyster, much like a father lovingly protects his growing son. Should the weather look stormy, the pearl farmer immerses the oysters more deeply in the lagoon. Should the weather turn too warm, he moves them to a cooler place.

Such tender, loving care eventually produces cultured pearls that are perfect at birth, needing no molding or shaping, just the enhancement of their natural beauty with other jewels worthy of such perfection.

Copyright © 1996-2001 GIE Perles de Tahiti
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