00:00This is a 1 in 10,000 natural pearl. And no, it didn't come from a grain of sand. Let
00:06me explain.
00:07Oysters are filter feeders, so they're really good at keeping sand out.
00:11For a natural pearl to occur, a parasite drills through the oyster's shell and is then trapped
00:16inside. The parasite is then slowly encased over time with the oyster's shell, creating a pearl.
00:23So if you were to crack a natural pearl open, it would most likely have a decomposed critter
00:28hidden inside. Natural pearls almost always come out very small and deformed. Cultured pearls,
00:35however, which are 99.9% of all pearls, are created with a little human intervention.
00:41When an oyster is about three years old, a small round nucleus is implanted into the oyster's gonad.
00:47If all goes well and the oyster is able to stay away from predators like turtles, rays, and trigger
00:53fish, the nucleus will be encased with the oyster's nacre over the course of a year.
00:59This is what gives pearls their round shape.
