HOMEABOUT USORDER INFOCONTACT USSHOPPING CART Baroque Pearls Beads Pearls Biwa Pearl Biwa Pearls Black Jewelry Pearl Black Pearl History Black Pearl Jewelry Black Pearl Tahitian Black Pearls Blister Pearl Ear Rings Buying Pearls Cheap Jewelry Cheap Rings Coin Pearls Crystal Pearl Jewelry Cultured Pearls Diamond Pearl Diamonds And Pearls Discount Pearl Jewelry Fashion Jewelry Fine Pearls Gold Pearls Golden Pearls Jewelry Accessories Jewelry Bracelets Jewelry Engagement & Wedding Jewelry Fine Jewelry Jewelry Pearl Jewelry Stores Natural Pearls Online Jewelry Stores Pink Pearls Prom Accessories Prom Jewelry Quality Pearls Real Pearls Seed Pearls Shell Pearls Silver Pearls Simulated Pearls South Sea Pearls White Pearls Women's Fashion Accessories OTHER PEARL INFORMATION Pearl Luster Pearl Surface Pearl Shape Pearl Grading Pearl Nacre Pearl Resources Sitemap HTML Sitemap XML Freshwater Pearls Chinese freshwater pearls, harvested from freshwater mussels, have taken the world by storm. Their varieties of color, shape and size have put them at the center of pearl activity today. Natural freshwater pearls occur in mussels when foreign material, usually a sharp object or a parasite, enters a mussel and cannot be expelled. In order to reduce irritation the mussell coats the intruder with the same secretion, nacre, it uses for its shell-building. To culture freshwater pearls workers slightly open their shells, cut small slits into the mantle tissue inside both shells, and insert small pieces of live mantle tissue from another mussel into the slits. That insertion alone is sufficient to start the production of nacre. Most cultured freshwater pearls are composed entirely of nacre. Copyright© UnlimitedPearls.com© All Rights Reserved FRESHWATER PEARLS