The price-value anomaly is obvious to consumers as they hasten to buy Chinese freshwater bargains. Indeed, pearls from freshwater mussels lie at the center of the liveliest activity in pearling today.

Chinese pearls came mainly from freshwater rivers and ponds, whereas Japanese pearls were found near the coast in salt water. Nearly all the pearls in commerce originated from those few sources.

The largest Scottish freshwater pearl found in living memory has been sold for £93,951 at auction. The Abernethy Pearl was discovered in the River Tay by William (Bill) Abernethy, who was ...

Before the development of plastic, buttons were made from mussel shells. Freshwater pearls are still cultured by inserting small pieces of native mussel shell into oysters. Mussels are fascinating ...

A new colony of endangered freshwater pearl mussels has been discovered in north Highland. The rare species was uncovered during a watercourse survey being carried out before culvert replacement work.

The Pinctada maxima oyster can take up to five years to produce a single South Sea pearl, whereas more common freshwater oysters can take as little as three months and create dozens of pearls.