scubadiverdownunder:

This is a chart of what percentages of pearls actually make is to the pearl auctions. Only 55% of the oysters implanted with a pearl seed (nuclei) and put out in the farm actually survive to the stage the pearls are extracted.

Only one third of the total oysters produce marketable pearls, with the other 22% either not covering the nuclei enough, or are shaped abnormally/unevenly to be able to sell.

Taken at Mikimoto Pearl Island, Toba, Japan

Give them to me, I will bathe in these so called “unmarketable” pearls