The largest living pearl oyster, this species has been harvested for more than a century in the South Pacific for its mother-of-pearl. Though cultured as early as the late 1800s, these pearls became widely distributed only in the 1970s. In some areas, this oyster is known as the Gold-lipped Pearl Oyster, but biologists consider the Silver- and Gold-lipped Pearl Oysters as mere varieties of a single species. Modern pearl culturing emphasizes silver or white pearls in Australia and gold pearls in the Philippines, Myanmar and Japan.