Mabe pearls.

  Pearls are worn as jewelry and a plastic copy is made in the form of beads to be worn by those who can't afford the real pearls

 

  A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl… is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. It could either be natural or cultured.

  Today on getting closer to nature, I would be telling us a little about the mabe pearl..(pronounced May-bay).

   Mabe blister Pearls are quite different from what you might consider “normal” pearls.        They are considered to be “semi-spherical cultured pearls”. Instead of growing inside the body of the mollusk creature, as is the case with other pearls, mabe pearls grow against the inside shell.
  This process causes Mabe pearls to have a flat side, as opposed to being relatively spherical, or at least rounded like standard pearls. This also explains why mabe pearls are frequently called “half pearls”. Mabe pearls come in a wide range of beautiful colors, which span from light pinks, to more bluish shades.

  The oyster in which the mabe pearls are cultured is the pteria penguin.

The winged pearl oyster Pteria penguin is traditionally used for production of mabé pearls i.e. half spherical pearls in Asia and the West Pacific. Although Pteria penguin occurs naturally in tropical Australian waters.

   Now we know penguins are not only birds but there is a marine creature, a mollusc called the pteria penguin which is a source of the beautiful cultured mabe pearls.
 A tip on how to know a real pearl is this;rub the pearl over your teeth if it's smooth then it's not a real pearl because real pearls are gritty.
 Look out for other interesting topics on getting closer to nature same time next week..

 much love from me to you.