Tom Stern's natural pearls

[CortezPearls]

Actually it is:

Family Pteriidae (double "i")
Genus Pteria: with the most commonly recognized species being Pteria penguin and P. sterna.
Genus Pinctada: with many commercial species, but mainly P. imbricata (=fucata) or "Akoya", P. maxima (Silver/Gold lip), P. margaritifera (Black-lip) and P. mazatlanica (Panamic Black-Lip).
Now, everyone knows about these...but it seems most are forgetting about the third Genus... Electroma
This group is mostly forgotten because it has only 7 species and they are small and thus considered "non-commercial".

 

[Caitlin]

Thanks Douglas, Steve and Tom for our expanding universe of true pearl-lore.

PS Douglas, Thanks for the links to your blog and to your store. Your online store makes it possible for folks to buy direct from you and I hope people who can't come to the Ruckus will do so! The Ruckusers will get to see, handle, buy them, at the ruckus, so come prepared!

 

[SteveM]

...but it seems most are forgetting about the third Genus... Electroma
This group is mostly forgotten because it has only 7 species and they are small and thus considered "non-commercial".

Just did a search for 'genus electroma range' to discover what and where we're talking about, and Google replied:

Did you mean: General Electric range??

In any case, I began my life at Pearl-Guide (and in pearls) introducing P. Maculata, a tiny, non-commercial oyster whose pearl-producing aptitude is limited to a single Pacific atoll. Would there be an atoll somewhere perfectly suited to Electroma pearl production, and what would they look like?

 

[DrTKStern]

Just did a search for 'genus electroma range' to discover what and where we're talking about, and Google replied:



In any case, I began my life at Pearl-Guide (and in pearls) introducing P. Maculata, a tiny, non-commercial oyster whose pearl-producing aptitude is limited to a single Pacific atoll. Would there be an atoll somewhere perfectly suited to Electroma pearl production, and what would they look like?

Steve,

That Google reply made me laugh out loud!

And thanks to all for pushing this line forward.

Tom

 

[SteveM]

That Google reply made me laugh out loud!

Yet the search continues?

THIS is something I just ran across in an attempt to compare sizes for P. Maculata (up to 50mm length) and typical Electroma (Tasmania, 40mm).

Could this have anything to do with those deep golden Akoyas in Pearl Paradise's July special?

 

[Valeria101]

Yet the search continues…

THIS is something I just ran across in an attempt to compare sizes for P. Maculata (up to 50mm length) and typical Electroma (Tasmania, 40mm).

Could this have anything to do with those deep golden Akoyas in Pearl Paradise's July special?

The link at Wiley Inter-science is empty [always happens with these - can't save their links... ] so... I need to ask: what do golden akoya have to do with those other two kinds?


PS: just read this and stumbled on that strove! Darn! Ha, ha! It's been quite the task to boil a mound of tongue-twisting stuff into poster material worth that same gut feeling, and still need a little luck with it.

 

[SteveM]

The link at Wiley Inter-science is empty [always happens with these - can't save their links... ]

Let's try out-wiling Wiley with text:

Natural hybridization between Pinctada fucata and Pinctada maculata inferred from internal transcribed spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA genes

Tetsuji MASAOKA * AND Takanori KOBAYASHI
National Research Institute of Aquaculture, Tamaki, Mie 519-0423 and National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-8648, Japan

ABSTRACT: Genetic evidence of the occurrence of natural hybridization between female Pinctada fucata and male Pinctada maculata among wild pearl oysters (n = 20) collected for use as the mother shell for private pearl farming in the Oshima Strait at Amami-o-shima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, were obtained. A polymerase chain reaction-based species identification method for Pinctada was developed using polymorphisms in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. This method enabled the amplification of the ITS regions using a primer set specific for P. maculata and P. fucata. However, 10 of 20 individuals morphologically identified as P. fucata had sequences specific to both P. maculata and P. fucata in the ITS region. These putative hybrids showed sequences of a maternally inherited mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene, identical to that of P. fucata. Shells of the putative hybrids were difficult to discriminate from those of P. fucata exhibiting similar taxonomic traits. Moreover, the hybrids exhibited slower growth than P. fucata but faster growth than P. maculata.

Received 5 October 2004. Accepted 3 March 2005.

 

[Valeria101]

Sounds like these guys have got quite some party going!

I never looked into the pearl color thing too seriously, but akoya have been written of to death [about color selection, see page 27 and 36 HERE].

However, it was something else about these colors [the blue/gray to pinkish white, to cream/golden of classic pearl types] - those P. maxima keshi with a few different colors on each is what caught my imagination instead: same beast & pearl, X colors - hope that those were bred for their sense of humor. Mine is as dead as Latin, I am affraid...

 

[CortezPearls]

Electroma is a very rare genus (7 species only) of smallish pearl oysters that seem to be a cross between Pinctada and Pteria. Personally, I have never seen a specimen...but they do exist in collections. I believe these creatures don't grown in large numbers (beds) and that they rarely produce pearls. Also, I did not mention Pterelectroma, with just one species: Pterelectroma zebra.

Here, some more info... text taken from Southgate & Lucas' (2008) book "The Pearl Oyster", other image from a presentation given by Pearl Oyster Geneticist Ilyia Temkin.

It would be interesting to see these animals and their pearls...so little time, so much to see and learn.

 

[SteveM]

It would be interesting to see these animals and their pearls...so little time, so much to see and learn.

Very nice color on the E. georgiana.

 

[DrTKStern]

The Persian Gulf Oil Catastrophe

The Persian Gulf Oil Catastrophe

Hello, All,

I'm wondering why Persian Gulf pearls are so tiny these days. Perhaps this is why. As part of my research at Stanford University Hoover Institute on War, Revolution, and Peace, I came upon this paragraph in The Arabs, A History, by Eugene Rogan. It concerns the 1991 Gulf War to displace Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

On page 453, Rogan writes, Facing imminent eviction from Kuwait, the Iraqi government responded with acts of environmental warfare intended to punish Kuwait and the neighboring Gulf states. Already in late January, Iraqi forces deliberately pumped four million barrels of oil into the waters of the Persian Gulf, creating the world's greatest oil slick, a lethal mass 35 miles long and 15 miles wide. Given the fagility of the Gulf as an ecosystem, and coming after years of damage inflicted by the Iran-Iraq war, the oil slick was an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale.

I am particularly concerned because for the first time in history, a terribly serious threat to the pearl beds of Sulu and North Borneo has arisen. Exxon-Mobil has drilled 3 deep water wells in the Sulu Sea in the past several months, raising fears of another catastrophe waiting to happen.

So, what do Pearl-Guiders think has been the longterm result in the Persian Gulf? I believe that 2 years ago I saw almost the entire production for the region that year, hardly more than a handful; and most so tiny I thought they were sand.

Best to all,
Tom

 

[Caitlin]

What country did the exx-mob buy off to do the drilling?

 

[SteveM]

I believe that 2 years ago I saw almost the entire production for the region that year, hardly more than a handful; and most so tiny I thought they were sand.

Sheds a brighter light on our recently-acquired, very delicate Persian Gulf bracelet (LINK).

 

[Caitlin]

Steve
How do you do those singleton links? I am looking forward to meeting your bracelet.

I posted a couple of articles during the course of a pearl roundup competition that used only traditional methods to gather the pearls. Several Gulf countries sent pearlers and boats to join the competition. There were prizes for the most living shells gathered, the most pearls, the biggest pearl etc. It was a rodeo kind of thing. I think those pearls are out there to be gathered, but there isn't really any commercial enterprise. Does anyone know of any commercial pearlers in the Persian Gulf? LINK TO Story

 

[SteveM]

How do you do those singleton links?

Click the post number rather than 'Permalink', single posts also link to their thread for those who want to view context.

 

[DrTKStern]

Basra Pearls

Basra Pearls

Steve
How do you do those singleton links? I am looking forward to meeting your bracelet.

I posted a couple of articles during the course of a pearl roundup competition that used only traditional methods to gather the pearls. Several Gulf countries sent pearlers and boats to join the competition. There were prizes for the most living shells gathered, the most pearls, the biggest pearl etc. It was a rodeo kind of thing. I think those pearls are out there to be gathered, but there isn't really any commercial enterprise. Does anyone know of any commercial pearlers in the Persian Gulf? LINK TO Story

Hi,

My understanding is that in the pearl competition promoted by The Ruler, under the best of conditions and with about 100 divers participating, less than a dozen pearls were found; the largest about 6mm and not so nice. This small harvest does not augur well for the longterm productivity of the Bahrain/Kuwait/Qatar pearl beds. The Gulf of Manar has been dead for half a century. Worldwide, most of the good water is gone from the climes required by nacreous pearl oysters.

So, in disagreement with Caitlin's belief that there are pearls out there to be gathered, my opinion is that there are too few for anyone to make a living by diving, particularly when the laboratories often cannot or will not confirm a pearl as "wild".

And "yes" to Steve, and to Caitlin for the lovely natural Basra bracelet she has. They are treasures unlikely to be found again.

Best to all,
Tom

 

[GemGeek]

Thanks Tom. I had been wondering about the contest. This is not good news for natural pearls.

 

[Caitlin]

I wondered why they weren't talking numbers. How awful. I guess the-oil-spill-as-revenge did its job. So the Great Pearl Round-up was really the Late, Great, Last Gasp of the ancient pearl industry...

I redesigned my bracelet into a choker necklace using p radiata seed pearls in between. I will wear it Sat at the Seminars.

Considering how bad the Natural market is, some of those Bahraini-certified radiatas at Kari's Pearls are a deal! I hope she is able to keep supplying more pieces as these sell out.

 

[DrTKStern]

SCUBA visibility in the Persian Gulf

SCUBA visibility in the Persian Gulf

I wondered why they weren't talking numbers. How awful. I guess the-oil-spill-as-revenge did its job. So the Great Pearl Round-up was really the Late, Great, Last Gasp of the ancient pearl industry...

Hello all,

I saw that report in a newspaper article from the Gulf, but cannot be sure how accurate it is. Somewhere earlier in this thread I may have mentioned the article.

There are efforts in Bahrain to restore the pearling beds by reseeding. It will be interesting to see if numerous good pearls can develop in polluted waters.

Has anyone done SCUBA in the Persian Gulf near Bahrain? What kind of visibility was there?

Best regards,
Tom

 

[Caitlin]

This isn't what you asked for, but. A couple of years ago I read several articles on scuba diving in Bahrain. I did a search just now and got some info from folks who have scubaed there. LINK.

We dive only to a depth 6m, and while there is a vast expanse of reef, it is covered in a layer of silt, has no colour and there are few fish. The only highlight is finding a couple of large cuttlefish, which have the remarkable ability to change their skin colour with flashes of fast-changing patterns.

http://www.dogsbreathdivers.com/bahrain.htmThis is not the one I read before, but that one paragraph is a hint.