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The black lipped oyster (Pinctada Margaritifera) which can only live in nutrient rich tropical waters lives in abundance in the lagoons of French Polynesias coral atolls.

These oysters create the famous black pearls. Most "black" pearls actually range in color from silvery gray to dark black. Other rare colors such as blue, green, and violet are possible as well. Black pearls range in size from 8mm to 12mm. Sizes larger than 12mm are rare and the largest ever found is around 22mm.

Internal structure of the Black Lipped Oyster

The Black Lipped oyster seen opened. The white ring is the
inside of the shell and the black material inside that is the
mantle which secretes the nacre.

Pearls have always been prized since ancient times. The Romans used caches of pearls to fund entire war campaigns. It wasn't until the early twentieth century, however, that pearls began to be cultured. Techniques developed by Tatsuhei Mise, Tokichi Mishikawa, and later Kokichi Mikimoto allowed man for the first time to induce pearl formation in oysters.

It wasn't until the early 70s that the methods of pearl farming reached Polynesia. And not the 90s that their beautiful pearls have become well known. Join us as we take you along on our quest for the black pearl.

Here is Teiki harvesting a black pearl. He has to be very careful so as not to kill the oyster. A single oyster can be grafted 2-3 times in its lifetime. When they get old they are either eaten or sent back to the lagoon to spawn.

Jeremiah, our adventurous leader decides to try his hand at extracting a pearl. He says it isn't as easy as it looks. But in this picture he finally gets the pearl and doesn't kill the oyster while doing it.

Opening the pearl is very tricky. You have to open it enough so as to get the pearl out but no so far as you kill the oyster. Here we see a nice black pearl emerging from the oysters pearl sack.

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