Was It A Speck Of Sand That Turned Into A Pearl?

Surprise, surprise. The tale of a grain of sand turning into a pearl may have been too good to be true. Though it holds enough magic to pique our imagination, the notion that a pearl always forms when a grain of sand enters a mollusc is a myth.

It is true that a mollusc such as an oyster or a mussel produces pearls. But it wasn’t a grain of sand that did the trick. Think about the environment of the world’s oceans and sea beds where molluscs are found, sand is everywhere! Moreover, molluscs constantly open and close their shells to obtain their food by filtering water in and over their gills. Imagine the amount of sand that would have entered the molluscs. If a pearl was formed each time a grain of sand entered, pearls would not be the sought-after gems today.

This Is How Pearls Are Really Made.

Pearls are made when a small irritant, typically a parasite, lodges itself in the mantle tissue of a mollusc. This intruder bothers the mollusc, which then puts up a defence by secreting nacre to protect itself. Nacre, or what we know as ‘mother-of-pearl’, is a composite of alternating layers of aragonite platelet and organic materials. The unique lustre of pearls comes from nacre. After years of coating the irritant with layers of nacre, a pearl is eventually formed.

The resulting pearl’s shape and size depends on the growth rate of the nacre. Most pearls can take anywhere between two to four years to fully develop. As natural pearls are extremely rare (only one in 10,000 oysters will produce a natural pearl), the majority of pearls in the market today are cultured.

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