Cultured Pearls in Unusual Designs

The freshwater mussel pearl production techniques are no more to be a secret to the farmers in Wayanad as a farmer at Pulpally has scripted a success saga in freshwater pearl culture.

Rajan Poriyaniyil, an inland fish farmer, entered the venture nearly a year ago after he attended a workshop organised by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) in Kasaragod on emerging trends in agriculture and allied activities.

He started pearl culture by depositing as many as 30 endemic mussels (Lamelli dens marginalis) to the district that he had collected from the tributaries of the Kabani River. The farmer got more than 20 pearls in the first harvest.

“Usually a round foreign body, sand or small stone, should be injected into the live mussel to produce pearl in commercial pearl farms. In order to protect itself from the foreign body, the mussel secretes calcium carbonate and covers it fully layer by layer. This later transforms into a pearl.

The shape of the pearl would depend on the shape of the foreign body (nucleus) and its position inside the mussel,” Neeta Susan, David, Extension officer, Fisheries Department, Wayanad told The Hindu.

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