''Pinctada'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of saltwater oysters,

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of marine and freshwater Mollusca, molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hing ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Pteriidae. These pearl

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

s have a strong inner shell layer composed of nacre, also known as "mother of pearl". Pearl oysters are not closely related to either the edible oysters of family Ostreidae or the freshwater pearl mussels of the families Unionidae and Margaritiferidae. '' Pinctada margaritifera'' and '' P. maxima'' are used for culturing South Sea and Tahitian pearls. They are cultured widely primarily in the central and eastern Indo-Pacific. A pearl oyster can be seen on the reverse side of the 1,000-peso note of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Species of commercial value

All species within the genus produce pearls. Attempts have been made to harvest pearls commercially from many ''Pinctada''

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

. However, the only species that are currently of significant commercial interest are: * Gulf pearl oyster, ''Pinctada radiata'';

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and throughout the Indo-Pacific as far as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. * Black-lip oyster, ''Pinctada margaritifera'';

and southwestern part of

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

;

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

; Tahiti;

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

;

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

;

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

* Gold-lip oyster, ''Pinctada maxima''; Australia; Fiji; Tahiti; * White-lip oyster, ''Pinctada maxima''; Australia; Fiji; Tahiti; Myanmar; * '' Pinctada mazatlanica''; Mexico; Panama; * Akoya pearl oyster, '' Pinctada fucata'' (also called ''P. imbricata''), Red Sea;

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

;

; Western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

; Australia;

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

;

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

; * Shark Bay pearl oyster ''

Pinctada albina ''Pinctada albina'' is a species of pearl oyster of the genus ''Pinctada'', known as the sharks bay shell. Another common name is the Arafura shell. It is called the "Amami gai" in Japan. ''Pinctada'' ''Pinctada albina'' belongs to the genus '' ...

''; Australia The various species of ''Pinctada'' produce different maximum sizes and colors of pearls, depending on the size of the species and the natural color of the nacre inside the shell. Black South Sea pearls, or Tahitian pearls come from the black-lip oyster; white and golden South Sea pearls from the white-lip and golden-lip oysters; and Akoya cultured pearls from ''Pinctada fucata martensii'', the Akoya pearl oyster. Pearls are also obtained in commercial quantities from some species of the closely related winged oyster genus '' Pteria''. Pearls are also produced from freshwater mussel species unrelated to pearl oysters. These freshwater species include '' Hyriopsis cumingii'', '' Hyriopsis schlegelii'', and a hybrid of the two species. At danger from the large demand for pearls, the typical lifespan of a pearl oyster is usually around 3 years to 14 years. ''Pinctada maxima'' are seeded at about 2 years of age and take 2 years to fully develop a pearl. They can be reseeded up to 3 or 4 times. Akoya pearls are harvested after about 9 to 16 months. Research carried out by biologist Aldemaro Romero Jr. allowed him to discover that the first animal population depleted by Europeans in the American continent was a pearl oyster species (''Pinctada imbricata'') off the coast of Venezuela. He analyzed historical records and used information about the biology of these and other species to explain its rapid disappearance.

Species list

The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in the genus: * ''

'' (Lamarck, 1819) – Shark Bay pearl oyster * '' Pinctada capensis'' (Sowerby III, 1890) * '' Pinctada chemnitzii'' (Philippi, 1849) * '' Pinctada cumingii'' (Reeve, 1857) * '' Pinctada fucata'' (Gould, 1850) – Akoya pearl oyster – now accepted as ''Pinctada imbricata fucata'' * '' Pinctada galtsoffi'' Bartsch, 1931 * '' Pinctada imbricata'' Röding, 1798 – Gulf pearl oyster * '' Pinctada inflata'' (Schumacher, 1817) * '' Pinctada longisquamosa'' (Dunker, 1852) * '' Pinctada maculata'' (Gould, 1850) * '' Pinctada margaritifera'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Black-lip oyster * '' Pinctada maxima'' (Jameson, 1901) – White-lip oyster or gold-lip oyster * '' Pinctada mazatlanica'' (Hanley, 1856) * '' Pinctada nigra'' (Gould, 1850) * '' Pinctada petersii'' (Dunker, 1852) * ''

Pinctada radiata ''Pinctada radiata'', commonly known as the Atlantic pearl-oyster or the Gulf pearl oyster is a species of pearl oyster distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific and in the Mediterranean. Its range extends as far north as Japan and as far south as ...

'' (Leach, 1814) – Atlantic pearl-oyster – now accepted as ''Pinctada imbricata radiata'' * '' Pinctada reeveana'' (Dunker, 1872) * '' Pinctada sugillata'' (Reeve, 1857) * '' Pinctada vidua'' (Gould, 1850)

References

External links

*
OBIS Indo-Pacific molluscan database entry for ''Pinctada''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1140748 Pteriidae Bivalve genera Commercial molluscs Taxa named by Peter Friedrich Röding