Description

Freshwater pearls are found in mussels or oysters in lakes, rivers or ponds and tend to be irregular shaped with various colors and formed inside an oyster or mussel as a result of the intrusion of a small animal (natural pearls), or by skillfully injecting a small bead made of shell (cultured pearls). The oyster or mussel secretes a fluid that coats the intrusion with many fine layers of nacreous aragonite. If the pearl is free to move inside the oyster it will produce a more spherical shape. However, the pearl's movement is often restricted, and therefore produces a variety of shapes. On average a cultured pearl takes about three and a half years to grow.