Why are black pearls black?
Pearls form when a piece of debris becomes trapped inside a mollusk’s shell, and mollusk secretes a substance that hardens around the debris, forming a sphere. Cultured black pearls mostly come from the black-lipped oyster, found in the waters off Tahiti and the Cook Islands. Unlike other mollusks, the black-lipped oyster secrets a black pigment that darkens the pearls to a black or gray color.Color VariationsBlack pearls do not appear purely black and frequently have an underlying color of blue or green, which can sometimes give the pearls a gray or metallic look.NamesNatural, noncultured, black pearls are also known as Tahitian black pearls.Fun FactAccording to an article from UC-Berkeley, most cultured black pearls have been dyed.
