Pearl Grafting

PREPARING THE OYSTERS 

After three  years’ rearing in the pearl farm, the oysters are ready for grafting. Before the operation, they are deprived of food for a few days  in order to slow their metabolism and so lessen the risk of the graft being rejected.

PREPARING THE NUCLEUS 

Next, nuclei of between 2 and 12 mm are cut from the shells of certain varieties of freshwater mussel(the best kind of nucleus coming from Mississippi mussel)And then smoothed off so that they are perfectly spherical

GRAFTING THE OYSTERS

Grafting the oysters is a very tricky operation involving the cutting of small pieces of flesh from the mantle which are then inserted into the oyster  along with the nucleus.Finally, the oyster’s gonad is opened up and the piece of mantel and the nucleus are inserted.The oyster is then massaged to speed up the healing process.