What kind of clams have pearls

Clams open and close two hinged shells to feed, but sometimes a parasite or other foreign body is not filtered out and irritates the soft body of the mussel. Over time, the calcium carbonate secretions develop into a pearl. Cultured pearls are generally more valuable than clam pearls because of their perfectly round shape and luminosity.

A clam pearl might be found in different colors, but white is the most common. Other colors range from pink to lavender to a rare blue clam pearl sought by collectors. The color of a clam pearl is determined by the kind of mussel that produces it. Littleneck clams found along the eastern coast of the Untied States produce quahog clam pearls with various shades of purple. These irregular saltwater pearls quickly became popular for their distinctive colors.

They might be valued for the irregular shapes that differ so much from the more expensive cultured pearls. The shape of a clam pearl depends on where it is found inside the shell. Sometimes a human granuloma will harden through calcification.

This will cause the bundle of white blood cells to harden and turn white. Tel: Email: info centreofthecell. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies.

It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Book Contact us. By Myfi Williams Pearls are seen as objects of beauty; we have used them for jewellery and decoration for hundreds of years.

A macrophage. Support us Find out more. Receive our newsletter. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. The oyster or mussel slowly secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, materials that also make up its shell. This creates a material called nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, which encases the irritant and protects the mollusc from it.

When pearls are cultured commercially an irritant is manually inserted into a mollusc to promote the production of mother-of-pearl. Nacre can form naturally around almost any irritant that gets inside the shell, creating some very unique and precious pearls.