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Freshwater pearls originate from the freshwater
mussel, cultured pearls from the seawater oyster.
The pearls are cultured, in the case of the mussel,
by inserting a small piece of mantle (the outer
fleshy layer) from another mussel into the shell of
the host; this acts rather like a skin graft and
forms a small sack within the mussel.
Each mussel can produce up to 40 pearls.
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