Scientists are first to 'unlock' the mystery of creating culture...

(Florida Atlantic University) In their natural form, conch pearls are among the rarest pearls in the world. For more than 25 years, all attempts at culturing pearls from the queen conch have been unsuccessful -- until now.

For the first time, novel and proprietary seeding techniques to produce beaded and non-beaded high-quality cultured pearls from the queen conch have been developed by scientists from FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.