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WHAT ARE PEARL OYSTERS ??? AND WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BOMBAY DUCK IN MALAYALAM??????
The true pearl oyster belongs to the genus Pinctada (Roding) under the family Pteriidae, order Dysodonta. Members belonging to the Pteriidae family are characterized by a straight hinge with 1–2 small tooth-like thickening, a cavity below the anterior angle for the byssus, and usually a scaly surface of the outer shell valves. The family includes the pearl oysters belonging to the genus Pinctada and the winged oyster shells of the Pteria genus. In Pteria spp. the shell width is much longer than the height and the hinge angle is prominent and pronounced.

In Pinctada spp. the hinge is rather long and straight, the long axis of the shell is at a right angle to the hinge, the left valve is slightly deeper than the right and there is a byssal notch on each valve at the base of the anterior ear.

Six species of pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata (Gould), P. margaritifera (Linnaeus), P. chemnitzii (Philippi), P. sugillata (Reeve), P. anomioides (Reeve) and P. atropurpurea (Dunker) occur along the Indian coasts.

In the Indian waters six species of pearl oysters occur but only P. fucata has contributed to the pearl fisheries in the Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch. In the Gulf of Mannar, the pearl oysters occur in large numbers on the submerged rocky or hard substrata known as paars.

The Malayalam name for Bombay duck is Bummili.


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