The Distinctions between Freshwater and Saltwater Pearls

Generally speaking, saltwater pearls refer to Akoya pearls, south sea pearls and Tahitian pearls. Freshwater and saltwater pearls are differentiated by several aspects. 

1. Shape

Saltwater pearls are nuclear and the shapes are mostly very round. The various shapes, such as drop, off-round, and baroque are often attributed to one kind of freshwater pearls which are cultivated without nuclear.

2. Origin and color

Saltwater pearls

Akoya pearls---Japan and China

South pearls---Hepu city, Guangxi province, China

South Sea pearls--- Australia and Indonesia

Tahitian pearls---- French Polynesia

Saltwater pearls vary white, golden from black and silver

Freshwater pearls are mainly from the lakes in Zhejiang and Hunan provinces, which are located in the middle and lower areas of Yangtze River in China. White, pink and lavender are common.


3. blemish

Spiral is uncommon for saltwater pearls, which is very often seen in freshwater pearls. The blemishes on saltwater pearls are generally like needle-eyes.

4. Luster

Due to the different growing years, their lusters are special. It usually takes 2-3 years for freshwater pearls and 3-4 years for saltwater pearls. The high density leads to sharp and bright luster for saltwater pearls. And freshwater pearls look shiny and mild.

5. Yield

The advanced cultivation skills and easy growing environment request offer high freshwater pearl yield, which reach to 1500 tons annually. It is said that an oyster produces more than 10 freshwater pearls each years. However, saltwater pearls are easily affected by circumstance and hard to control the growing surroundings. The longer growing year and high requirement on the circumstance make saltwater pearls expensive. Plus, each oyster in saltwater only produces a pearl.

Types of Pearls

Pearls are the surprises given by Mother Nature, they come from the excrete nacres by pallium in the bivalves. Generally speaking, pearls are divided into two categories, natural pearls and cultured pearls.

Natural pearls are rare so that seldom are seen in the jewelry market; that is also why the price of natural pearls are so high. Those shells that produce natural pearls are generally living in the sea, lake, river or any other waters. There are two types of natural pearls according to their living environment, one is natural sea pearls , the other is natural freshwater pearls. Both of them are the miracles from Nature.

Cultured pearls also includes two types, cultured sea pearls and cultured freshwater pearls, which are called sea pearls and freshwater pearls for short. Sea pearls are cultivated in the sea and the production phase is 1-2 years. Freshwater pearls are cultivated mainly in the lake and river with a production phase as 5-8 years. There is only one pearl from a sea shell, while several pearls can be attain from a freshwater shell; and most sea pearls are perfectly round. Therefore, the price of the freshwater pearls are lower than the sea pearls.