Treasure Coast scientists able to culture pearls inside queen conchs

Two treasure Coast scientists have solved a mystery that for decades has been wrapped up in the coils of a conch shell.

With less than two years of research and experimentation, Megan Davis and Héctor Acosta-Salmón, both scientists at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, have developed a technique to culture, or grow, pearls inside queen conchs.

In nature, only one in 10,000 conchs produces a pearl, and only one in 100 of those is gem quality. Davis and Acosta-Salmón have an 80 percent success rate culturing pearls in conchs and so far have produced more than 200 using techniques they developed.

Officials at FAU say the accomplishment is comparable to the development of cultured oyster pearls by the Japanese in the 1920s.

Read entire article about culturing pearls in queen conchs here.