Silver-lip pearl oyster
Mollusca – Bivalvia
Distribution:
(Porpita porpita)
Silver-lip pearl oysters are the largest of the world’s 30 species of pearl oyster and can grow up to 30 cm across. They are bivalves, meaning they have two shells which come together at a hinge. Usually you will find the shells separately washed up on shore. They are filter feeders, so live in areas with a high water flow, to increase the amount of food particles they can filter from the water through their gills.
Did you know?
A pearl is made when a grain of sand finds its way in between the two shells. In order to expel this foreign material the pearl oyster deposits layers of liquid ‘nacre’ on it, which becomes the pearl.
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds