How are Akoya Pearls Made?

Akoya Pearl farmers implant a “bead” of mother-of-pearl ( the stuff that covers the inner surface of the mollusc ) together with some mantle tissue into the mollusc’s gonads. This will irritate the mollusc and will begin to cover the irritant with layer after layer of nacre. Nacre if the pearly substance the constitutes most of the pearl.

It is important to note that with Akoya Pearl Molluscs many of them do not survive this procedure. Only about half of the molluscs survive this operation.  Akoya Pearl Molluscs in farms may also die well before the 9 to 18 months required for them to produce a normal sized pearl. Disease, storms and other factors contribute to the high mortality rate among them.

For the Akoya Pearl molluscs that survive long enough, only about 3% of them produce high quality pearls. Japan Akoya pearls maintain this very high standard of quality. While Chinese made Akoya Pearls may be less stringent about quality pearls.