The pearl oysters belong to the genus Pinctada Roding
under the family Pteriidae. They enjoy a world wide
distribution occurring in almost all the seas of the
tropical belt and also in the subtropical region. Six
species of pearl oysters occur in the Indian waters viz.,
Pinctada fucata (Gould), P. margaritifera (Linnaeus),
P. chemnitzii (Philippi), P. sugillata (Reeve), P. anomioides
(Reeve) and P. atropurpurea (Dunker), of which
P. fucata alone has contributed to the pearl fisheries
in the Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch. P. fucata
is distributed in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and the
Indian and Pacific Oceans
