The Life Spans of various Pearl-Producing Mollusks - References? Knowledge?

[Bodecia]

Hi all,

Hoping some one can direct me to articles or sites or actually know the various life spans of the different pearl producing mollusks.

I would also like access to the knowledge of how long these mollusks keep growing and generally as much knowledge I can find out.

Have been browsing the pearl-guide forum old threads and each thread has been so very interesting and then I find I am surfing from one thread to another in search of information the first one or second etc has brought to my attention and displayed to me my extreme ignorance.

Would appreciate any help. From others as myself and from the experts

Thanks All,

Dawn - Bodecia
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 - natural pearl collector and all round pearl lover.

 

[Bodecia]

I should have added that although I have this thread under Naturals I am interested in the life spans of the mollusks both in the wild and in farms. Having said that I do realise that many mollusks do not reach a full life span in cultivation for obvious reasons.

Thanks again,

Dawn - Bodecia
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 - natural pearl collector and all round pearl lover.

 

[DrTKStern]

Life span of Giant Clams

Life span of Giant Clams

Hi all,

Hoping some one can direct me to articles or sites or actually know the various life spans of the different pearl producing mollusks.

I would also like access to the knowledge of how long these mollusks keep growing and generally as much knowledge I can find out.

Have been browsing the pearl-guide forum old threads and each thread has been so very interesting and then I find I am surfing from one thread to another in search of information the first one or second etc has brought to my attention and displayed to me my extreme ignorance.

Would appreciate any help. From others as myself and from the experts

Thanks All,

Dawn - Bodecia
eBay Seller ID dawncee333 - natural pearl collector and all round pearl lover.

Dawn,

I have been told that Giant Clams, which make Tridacna pearls, can live 200-300+ years; and that Pinctada maxima, which produce beautiful nacreous pearls, live up to 20 years. So I assume similar spans would apply to P. radiata, Pteria sterna, etc. Nautilus live a bit longer, and I recall reading they do not become sexually mature until around 20 years.

Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[jshepherd]

The most scientific book on pearls I've ever read (or tried to read and understand) is The Pearl Oyster by Southgate and Lucas. It's on my Kindle so I don't have a copy handy. But if any text has the information, I'd imagine that one does.

 

[CortezPearls]

This information about the life-span of a given species comes basically from 2 sources: real-life information and growth-curves. When you use both sources you get more accurate information.

In the case of the "Rainbow Lipped Oyster" (Pteria sterna) we know that it can live to be 6-7 years old based on the basis of both types of information. My Master's thesis was about the growth of Pinctada mazatlanica & Pteria sterna and instead of the "skimpy" assumptions using a 2 month growth curve...well my growth curve followed the oyster's development for 4 full years and then we continued with these oysters until their demise.

In our case: we are pretty sure about their life-span.

 

[DrTKStern]

This information about the life-span of a given species comes basically from 2 sources: real-life information and growth-curves. When you use both sources you get more accurate information.

In the case of the "Rainbow Lipped Oyster" (Pteria sterna) we know that it can live to be 6-7 years old based on the basis of both types of information. My Master's thesis was about the growth of Pinctada mazatlanica & Pteria sterna and instead of the "skimpy" assumptions using a 2 month growth curve...well my growth curve followed the oyster's development for 4 full years and then we continued with these oysters until their demise.

In our case: we are pretty sure about their life-span.

Thanks. Very interesting. Reminded by this link and your expertise, I want to return to the question of P. sterna and P.penguin. First, is it true that with long wave light, Pteria sterna and P. penguin can be differentiated? Is it also true that P.sterna is not believed to be native to the Western Pacific? If I'm wrong on one or both counts, there really is no issue.

I ask because we now have about 10-15 natural saltwater P.sterna pearls with GIA cert that came from the Celebes Sea. We also have several classed as P. penguin, so I assume GIA is using some kind of test to separate the two.

Do you think Pteria sterna came to the Sulu and Celebes seas on the keels of Manila Galleons that crossed for 250 years? One known example of transplantationof oyster types took place when the Suez Canal opened and Red Sea oysters made it into the Eastern Mediterranean.

Many thanks,
Tom

 

[CortezPearls]

Hello Tom... we've got fossil records stating that Pteria genus was in this area several millions of years ago (140 to be precise) so I feel certain to say that it is a 100% native species.

About UV differentiation between species...wish I had some natural Pteria penguin pearls to have people at Bangkok, Liechtenstein and NY test-compare them, but I don't have/own a single natural pearl from penguin.

Now, what I am about to say is something that maybe some of you may know (maybe not) BUT most genus Pteria shells display the pink-red fluorescence: I have confirmed this on Pteria sterna, P. penguin and P. colymbus. My guess then...some of these pearls would glow pink-red. So, you heard it here first: at the Pearl-Guide.com forum (even before I did this on our Blog).

Now, why some come out as P.sterna and some as P.penguin...???

Who wants to know???? Let me hear you out!!!

 

[CortezPearls]

BTW...just answered this on this thread...