Pearls are formed when a pearl oyster coats any hard particle
entering it with layers of nacre, a form of calcium carbonate.
Western Australia’s pearling industry focuses on South Sea
pearls from the pearl oyster Pinctada maxima. It belongs to the
Family Pteriidae, a small family of bivalve molluscs. In WA P.
maxima lives in northern coastal waters as far south as Shark
Bay. It attaches itself to the sea bottom by tiny threads. It
uses its gills to filter tiny food particles of plant and animal
matter from the water and can grow up to 300 mm in shell length.
A pearl oyster is a bivalve (a mollusc that has a shell with two
hinged valves). Pearl oysters use their gills to filter tiny
food particles of plant and animal matter from the water. Growth
rates are initially fast and they can reach the minimum legal
size for collection (120 mm in shell length) in their third year
of life. Distribution and habitat In WA P. maxima lives in
northern coastal waters. It has been recorded as far south as
Shark Bay, but is no