Gem profile- Paua and Abalone

by Judy Ellis

Ah, spring! My tulips and daffodils are starting to come up and the air has that warmth to it that is a welcome change from the winter cold. Now I just have to start worrying about snails coming out to eat the garden. Speaking of snails, I think we will start this week`s Gem Profile on Cephalopods and the Mother of Pearl that comes from them.

Nautilus, Abalone, Paua, & Pinctada Maxima:

Cephalopods: Nautilus and Ammonites

Cephalopods like octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish lack shells and cannot produce mother-of-pearl (MOP).

The Nautilus, however, has a smooth, iridescent inner shell used for white MOP watch faces.

Nautiluses live in warm waters of the southwest Pacific, Indian Ocean, and near Australia.

Their spiral shells have gas-filled pockets for buoyancy.

They swim by jet propulsion, eat crustaceans, and though not visually striking

provide beautiful shell material, while their fossilized ancestors are valued for opalescence.

Bivalves: Mussels, Pinctada Maxima, and Oysters

Bivalves clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops have two shells hinged on one side.

While scallops swim and aren't used for MOP, oysters and mussels provide the shell material commonly used in jewelry.

Oysters provide both pearls and mother-of-pearl (MOP) for jewelry. Pinctada maxima, the source of South Sea pearls, produces large pearls and MOP that match the pearl's color. Mussels also produce freshwater pearls and MOP.

What a way to recycle! The food industry uses the meat of oysters and mussels, then passes the shells on to jewelers for MOP inlays, jewelry, and other decorative items.

Shells from bivalves are also used as dietary supplements for poultry and as calcium supplements for humans.

Crushed shells can remove heavy metals from water in places like the Persian Gulf.

Live oysters and mussels can act as biofilters in some areas, helping clean the environment naturally.

These shells are also a symbol of St. James. According to Roman myth, Venus, the goddess of love, was born from the shell of a bivalve.

In my garden, I have a birdbath shaped like a clam and have used shells on several stepping stones around my yard.

Look around, and you will find the bivalve in many symbols we see every day.

Gastropods: Paua and Abalone Shells

Now we get to the gastropods, or gastropoda mollusks. Gastropods are the scientific name for snails and slugs.

I know, I hate them too; they eat my garden and are generally icky, although escargot is not bad.

Gastropods are recognized by a foot that reaches out of their shell, which they use to cling to rocks and surfaces.

Gastropods, as icky as they are, include a huge number of species, second only to insects in number.

For this conversation, we will be focusing mostly on abalone.

Abalone is the generic name for the many species of the genus Haliotis (no, they don't have bad breath). Paua (pronounced pow-a) is the name the Maori people gave to this large edible sea snail that lives in shallow coastal waters along New Zealand's rocky coast.

In the United States and Australia, we call them abalone, while the United Kingdom calls them ormer shells. Abalone are also found on other rocky coastlines in shallow water, where they cling to rocks with a foot and feed on seaweed. See, all snails like green stuff!

Paua grow very large and have strict rules on their harvest. In New Zealand, wild paua can only be harvested by free diving (no scuba equipment) and in restricted numbers per day.

Similar restrictions exist along the coast of California, where poaching abalone is strictly prohibited and can be very dangerous.

New Zealand also has a growing industry of paua farms, located throughout the country.

Paua farmers raise these mollusks for their meat and shells, which are exported primarily to the United States and Asian markets. Paua farming can be expensive to set up and maintain due to the size and activity level of the animals.

Farming helps with the supply of meat and shells, prevents overfishing, and produces a higher-quality product.

Paua, or abalone, shells are used in jewelry making and can be dyed or tinted in a rainbow of colors, enhanced by the iridescence of the nacre.

These shells have also been used throughout history in rites and rituals around the world, most notably in Native American ceremonies and Maori ceremonial masks.

Paua shells, known for their banded rainbow colors, can also produce pearls.

Paua pearls, or blue pearls, form when a small irritant, like a grain of sand, gets between the mollusk and its shell.

Similar to a mabe pearl (a half-round pearl), the blue pearl shows the iridescence of the paua MOP and is highly prized for its beauty.

Blue pearl production is carefully controlled on paua farms to avoid stressing the animal and to maximize the pearl's beauty.

Gem profile- Paua and Abalone

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