#2802 - Pteria penguin - Penguin-wing Oyster
Happily the binomial translates exactly into penguin-wing, although 'penguin' originally referred to the Greak Auk (Pinguinus impennis), an entirely unrelated bird.
A large pearl oyster native to the western and central Indo-Pacific region and is used for the production of cultured pearls. With the development of modern pearl-seeding methods, farmed Penguin-wing Oysters are now the main source of mabe pearls - flattened on one side and grown between the mantle and the shell. Natural pearls in the species are rare, and usually irregular and pinkish in colour.
Otago Museum, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand
















