Pearl Oysters are mollusks, primitive invertebrates with a soft body and a hard protective shell. There are many kinds of mollusks: bivalves (clams, scallops, mussels and pearl oysters), gastropods (abalone, snails) and cephalopods (squid and octopus). Of these creatures only pearl oysters (family Pteriidae), certain freshwater mussels (family Unionidae) and Abalone (Family Haliotidae) are capable of producing nacreous pearls.

Of these three groups of mollusks, Pearl Oysters (Pteriidae) produce the most beautiful pearls of all...although Abalone pearls are very rare indeed. Most of the world's cultured pearls (known as freshwater pearls or FWP) are produced by freshwater mussels (Unionids); followed by Saltwater pearls, produced mainly by about three different species of pearl oysters of the Genus Pinctada: the "Akoya" pearl oyster (Pinctada imbricata=fucata), the "White/Gold Lipped Oyster" (Pinctada maxima) and the "Black-Lipped Oyster" (Pinctada margaritifera). The "mabe-gai" or "Penguin Winged Pearl Oyster" (Pteria penguin) is used solely for the production of Mabe pearls (also known as a "half-pearls").

All saltwater pearls -"Akoya", "South Seas" and "Black Pearls"- are produced within Pinctada species pearl oysters. The only pearl farm that utilizes a Pteria pearl oyster for the production of loose cultured pearls in the World is the Sea of Cortez Pearl Farm in Guaymas. We produce both loose cultured pearls and mabes (half-pearls), mainly from the "Rainbow-Lipped Pearl Oyster" (Pteria sterna), a unique species native to the Gulf of California. Our "Rainbow Lipped Pearl Oyster" is capable of producing pearls of unique colors and overtones: black, rainbows, blue, pistachio, golden and purple. We also harvest pearls in light and dark gray colors, but always with a beautiful sheen of blue, green and/or lavender. These pearls might as well be considered the World's rarest cultured pearls... since all come from this single farm, and its yearly production is LIMITED: only 4 kilos per year (please do compare this production output with that of any other pearl producing country).

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