What are freshwater pearls?

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Freshwater pearls are a kind of pearl that comes from freshwater mussels. They are produced in Japan, China, and the United States, and were formerly produced in Scotland. Freshwater pearls come in various pastel shades of white, black, pink, peach, lavender, plum, purple, and tangerine, depending on the type of mussel.

A single mussel can produce up to 50 pearls. While saltwater pearl-bearing oysters are nucleated in a small organ known as the gonad, freshwater mussels are nucleated in the actual mantle tissue. Each side of this bivalve can handle up to 25 nucleations at one time.

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