Back in my school days, February was an important month â not just because it included the eagerly-anticipated Valentineâs Day, but because even though it was the shortest month of the year, it encompassed two holidays for which public schools were closed: Lincolnâs Birthday (February 12) and Washingtonâs Birthday (February 22).
Oysters of tropical and semitropical seas are mature and ready to hand on life at the age of three years. Osyters of cool winter waters, as a rule, are mature at the age of four years. Edible oysters are pampered and tended by fishermen. The settled youngsters are called oyster spats until they become two inches long.
The largest pearl-bearing oyster is the marine Pinctada maxima, which is roughly the size of a dinner plate. Not all individual oysters produce pearls naturally. In fact, in a harvest of two and a half tons of oysters, only three to four oysters produce what commercial buyers consider to be absolute perfect pearls. In nature, pearl oysters produce pearls by covering a minute invasive object with nacre.