"The Japanese have always tended to place too many oysters too close together ... because lower shell density usually results in a higher quality pearl. "In effect, the farmers will be getting ...

A retractable foot, a siphon for sucking up water, powerful muscles, and, sometimes, a pearl. And you thought ... a kind of mollusk that's encased in a shell made of two valves, or hinging parts.

Pearls are formed inside a mussel or oyster (or any mollusk with a shell) as a form of self-defense ... You can rinse under a tap, but be sure to close the drain in your sink.

Pearls are the result of a mollusc's reaction to irritants such as parasites that enter its shell. Although model pearls are perfectly round and smooth, in reality they come in a huge number of shapes ...

What is it? Well, many of the manicures feature this ethereal, pearly, opalescent finish, a bit like the mother-of-pearl-insides of a mollusc shell. So there, I’m calling it: shell nails are ...