Journal
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
Volume 2, Issue 7, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150144
Keywords
pearl oyster; pearl rotation; biomineralization
Categories
Funding
- Ifremer
- Universite de la Polynesie francaise
- Direction des Ressources Marines et Minieres de la Polynesie francaise
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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.
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