Freshwater Pearls

While Akoya, South Sea and Tahitian pearls are grown in oceans, experiments to grow pearls in freshwater ponds, lakes and rivers started in Japan in the 1920s. The first freshwater pearls were harvested in Lake Biwa in Japan.

Because of industrial development and high production costs in Japan, freshwater pearls are now produced mainly in China.

The pearl mussels used for the cultivation of freshwater pearls, Hyriopsis cumingii, are white, pink, peach or purple and yield pearls in these colours. Pearl sizes range from 4 to 12 mm in diameter, with exceptional ones reaching up beyond 15 mm.

In contrast to seawater pearls, the growth of most freshwater pearls is triggered by implants of mantle tissue only, without shell nucleus. As a result, the majority of freshwater pearls are fully made of layers of nacre.