Freshwater Pearls Trivia Quiz

Answer: Glochidia

Glochidia attach themselves to the gills of fish until they are large enough to survive on their own. They then fall off to continue maturing.

Many pearl farms in China are self-sufficient. Food is grown in the fields that is fed to the fish that glochidia rely on. In turn, discarded mussel shells are ground up and used for fertilizer for the fields. The families that run the farm feed on other products from the fields as well as fish from the lakes and ponds.

Answer: China

China produces more than ten times what the rest of the world produces. Most of the farming is centered around Shanghai.

From Shanghai, the pearls are brought to Hong Kong which has become the freshwater pearl capital of the world.

Answer: False

Saltwater oysters are nucleated in the gonad. Freshwater mussels are nucleated in the mantle.

The Hyriopsis cumingii can be nucleated in the mantle tissue lining each side of the shell. Some of the larger mussels can be nucleated 20 to 30 times on each side!

Answer: Majorca pearl

Seed pearls and potato pearls are small, irregularly-shaped pearls.

Keshi pearls are formed by the mussel coating an unplanned irritant entering the incision during the nucleation process.

Majorca pearls are fakes, albeit really good fakes.

Answer: Black

The color of the mother of pearl will determine the possible colors of the pearls created by the mussel. Some of the shells are mostly white, but many can be brightly colored in pinks, purples, lavenders, peaches and oranges.

However, freshwater pearls lend themselves well to color enhancement. Dyes are used to make black, blue, green, red or almost any color in the rainbow.

Answer: False

Some mussels are farmed specifically for blister pearl production. A blister pearl is a pearl that is formed on the inside of the shell.

Artisans cut around the blister and make stunning jewelry from the pearl and the surrounding mother of pearl.

Answer: The popularity of rounder, freshwater pearls from China

The nomiker Biwa, is still used for high quality pearls, even if they come from Lake Biwa or not. Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan.

Answer: They can attain larger sizes than all saltwater varieties

Freshwater pearls suffer from the stigma of inferiority due to their affordability. This comes from the amount of pearls one mussel can produce at a time (up to 40 or more) as opposed to the saltwater varieties that usually only produce one pearl at a time.

Economics 101: the higher the supply, the lower the cost.

Answer: All of these

Mantle tissue is by far the most common material used for nucleation in China.
The United States only uses flat or half-dome beads, because the mussel used is not broad enough for a full bead.

Efforts are being made to create large, round freshwater pearls in Lake Kasumigaura that are rivalling South Sea pearls in size.

Answer: Any of these

As mentioned above, dyeing pearls can result in almost any color. Bleaching helps whiten and balance the color of a white pearl.

Irradiation can help a pearl display orient, or the rainbow play of color across the surface of the pearl.