Can snails make pearls?
Abalones are large snails with a beautiful secret. Brown and gray on the outside, covered in seaweed, crawling slowly over rocks in tidal zones while remaining firmly attached to them with a muscular foot, abalones deposit a striking iridescent mother-of-pearl within their shells.
Abalones are a marine gastropod, a sea snail that resembles a typical garden snail because it also carries a single spiral shell on its back. Along with Conch and Melo melo snails, abalones are one of the few gastropods that are capable of producing pearls.
Abalones live in shells up to 20-30 cm in size and can survive in cold or warm water, which has supported their wide geographic habitat. They are typically found off the coasts of the western US, Mexico, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Although most abalones live for 10-20 years, they can even reach 40-50 years of age. A delicacy in some of the world’s areas, abalones have historically been hand-harvested for meat and the shells are used for ornaments, mugs, and even coins.
Like pearls that come from a mollusk such as an oyster, abalone pearls are made by depositing thousands of layers of an organic substance called nacre. Their mother-of-pearl inner shell is usually more colorful than that of bivalve mollusks such as oysters, often displaying a stunning combination of blue, green, pink, purple, and silver.
Natural abalone pearls are quite rare and until the last century were relatively unknown in the gemological markets. With their unique color and baroque horn shapes, these pearls are now highly sought after by jewelry designers and collectors. One of the largest natural abalone pearls ever found is the Great Pink Pearl, which was valued in 1991 at $4.7 million. Round, symmetrical abalone pearls remain very rare and can take many years to form.
Attempts to produce cultured pearls with abalone have been recorded since the late 19th century in several countries. The main pearl farms today are in New Zealand and California. The main challenge for pearl producers is that the animal’s blood does not coagulate, and if the animal is accidentally injured during the surgical insertion of a core, it can bleed to death. For this reason, Abalone mabe blister pearls are most often grown by pearl growers, as no incision is required to begin making the Abalone into a blister pearl.
Although large sea snails, such as abalone, secretly make highly valuable and rare pearls, the beautiful abalone mabe cultured pearls are also made into pendants and earrings that are quite affordably priced for jewelry lovers.