Cultured Pearl Types

The two common Pearl Types are freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls. As their names indicate, freshwater pearls are produced by mussels living in freshwater areas such as lakes, rivers and streams. Saltwater pearls are produced by mollusks living in saltwater, such as oceans and marine bays.

Cultured pearl types can also be described by the four main types of pearls that are produced by freshwater and saltwater mollusks—these four types are: freshwater pearls, akoya pearls, black South Sea pearls (also known as Tahitian and Cook Island Pearls), and South Sea pearls. Other cultured pearls do exist but are produced on a much smaller scale. Cortez pearls™ from Baja California and Abalone mabe pearls from New Zealand and California would fall into this category.

Freshwater Pearls
Freshwater pearls are found naturally in rivers, lakes and other freshwater bodies of water. Freshwater pearls are cultured in Hyriopsis cumingii and Hyriopsis schlegelii mussel shells in China and to a lesser extent in Japan.

Akoya Pearls
Akoya pearls are the first type of commercially cultured and harvested whole pearls. Akoya pearls were first cultured in Japan using the Mikimoto patented Mise-Nishikawa method. Akoya pearls are currently farmed in Japan, China, Vietnam, South Korea and Australia in the Pinctada fucata martensii and Pinctada chemnitzii oyster.

Black South Sea Pearls
Black South Sea pearls are pearls produced by the Pinctada margaritifera mollusk. They are typically dark in color and large in size. Black South Sea pearls are produced in French Polynesia (cultured Tahitian pearls), the Cook Islands (cultured Cook Island pearls), Fiji, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and the Ryukyu islands of Japan.

Tahitian Pearls
'Tahitian pearl' is the name assigned to the black South Sea pearls produced only in French Polynesia. These pearls are also farmed in other parts of the world but unless farmed in French Polynesia they are referred to as black South Sea pearls. Tahitian pearls are cultured in the Pinctada margaritifera mollusk.

Cook Island Pearls
Cook Island Pearls are black South Sea pearls produced in Pinctada margaritifera in the Cook Islands and are identical to Tahitian pearls produced in French Polynesia. Because they are produced outside of French Polynesia they cannot be called Tahitian pearls.

South Sea Pearls
South Sea pearls are cultured in the largest of all nacreous, pearl-bearing mollusk, the Pinctada maxima. South Sea pearls are farmed in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Vietnam. Cultured South Sea pearls are known for the large size and considered to be the most valuable variety of cultured pearl.

Cortez Pearls™
Cortez pearls™ are a rare type of cultured pearl farmed in Bacochibampo Bay off the coast of Baja California in Mexico. The aesthetic characteristics of Cortez Pearls™ are similar to those of black South Sea pearls. They are produced in the rainbow-lipped Pteria sterna mollusk.

Eyris Blue Pearls™
Eyris blue pearls™ are a type of cultured mabe pearl grown in the Paua abalone (Haliotis iris) in New Zealand. The pearls are also known as "blue pearls" and exhibit intense blue colors mixed with reds and purples. The surface of a blue pearl is often marred by conchiolin discoloration.