2017 Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 61-71
We examined the characteristics of pearls produced from different areas of the same donor oyster mantle tissue. A small piece of tissue was dissected from different mantle areas and implanted with pearl nucleus into mother oysters that were then cultured. Pearls were harvested after 90 days or 150 days. In Exp.I the pearls from oysters implanted with a piece of tissue from along the dark line near the mantle edge (X: ventral area of pigmentaion line, Y; dorsal area of pigmentation line) had thicker nacreous layer and thinner aragonite crystals than those from oysters implanted a with piece from near the adductor muscle (Z). Yellowness Index (YI) in X was larger than those in Z. In Exp.II oysters were implanted with a piece from three different areas near the mantle edge (A; ventral area of pigmentation line, B: area include the pigmentation line, C; dorsal area of pigmentation line). YI from B was larger than those from C. Thickness of pearl and one aragonite crystals from A were larger than C. The present study suggests that amount of yellow pigment, thickness of the nacreous layer, and one aragonite crystal could be controlled by selecting the area of mantle of donor oysters.
