Hong Kong Pearl Ruby Bridal Women Fashion Jewelry 46

Hong Kong Pearl Ruby Bridal Women Fashion Jewelry. 

By Aamir Mannan.

South Sea Pearls form in the "White Lipped" oyster Pinctada maxima. Because most South Sea pearls are cultivated from these wild, hand-picked oysters, strict quotas have been established to prevent their depletion.

Pearl-farm divers go 10 to 80 meters deep in search of healthy and only mature oysters for growing South Sea pearls. Though most South Sea pearl-oyster divers today use modern scuba equipment, in the Philippines, oysters are still routinely collected by "free-divers" who use no equipment at all. Some South Sea pearling operations employ pearling ships, unique to South Sea pearl cultivation. Nucleated South Sea pearl oysters are nurtured in isolated bays of the purest water, far distant from industrial areas. After 3 or 4 months, each oyster is x-rayed to confirm that its nucleus has not been rejected. Oysters with nuclei still inside are returned to the water to continue cultivation, a period that lasts 2 to 3 years.

South Sea Pearl Harvesting

Because of their long, 2-to-3 year cultivation period, South Sea pearls develop an exceptionally thick coating of nacre -- from 2 to 6 millimeters -- perhaps the thickest of all saltwater cultured pearl varieties. When extracting South Sea pearls from their oysters, technicians take special care not damage them. If the oyster is healthy, another nucleus is placed inside -- a process that may be repeated up to 4 times for a single oyster.