Yes, it turns: experimental evidence of pearl rotation during its formation

Cultured pearls are human creations formed by inserting a nucleus and a small piece of mantle tissue into a living shelled mollusc, usually a pearl oyster. Although many pearl observations intuitively suggest a possible rotation of the nucleated pearl inside the oyster, no experimental demonstration of such a movement has ever been done. This can be explained by the difficulty of observation of such a phenomenon in the tissues of a living animal. To investigate this question of pearl rotation, a magnetometer system was specifically engineered to register magnetic field variations with magnetic sensors from movements of a magnetic nucleus inserted in the pearl oyster. We demonstrated that a continuous movement of the nucleus inside the oyster starts after a minimum of 40 days post-grafting and continues until the pearl harvest. We measured a mean angular speed of 1.27° min−1 calculated for four different oysters. Rotation variability was observed among oysters and may be correlated to pearl shape and defects. Nature's ability to generate so amazingly complex structures like a pearl has delivered one of its secrets.

Keyword(s)

pearl oyster, pearl rotation, biomineralization

Full Text

FilePagesSizeAccess
Publisher's official version
8979 Ko
How to cite
Gueguen Yannick, Czorlich Yann, Mastail Max, Le Tohic Bruno, Defay Didier, Lyonnard Pierre, Marigliano Damien, Gauthier Jean-Pierre, Bari Hubert, Lo Cedrik, Chabrier Sebastien, Le Moullac Gilles (2015). Yes, it turns: experimental evidence of pearl rotation during its formation. Royal Society Open Science. 2 (7). 150144. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150144, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00275/38598/

Copy this text