The occurrence of perliferous freshwater oysters in the southern region of Marajó Island, at the mouth of Amazon River, is reported. The oyster's shell presents a thick layer of conchioline. A set of 12 freshwater pearls present white to dark gray colors with nacarous luster, some with golden metallic hue; sizes from 3 to 11 mm and spheric to cylindrical (with belts) to barroc forms. At long wave UV light, two samples present strong and one presents medium blue color. Paler blue colors are shown at short wave UV light. The inner side of the shell presents pale blue colors at both, long and short wave UV light. This occurrence represents, probably, the first important region in Brazil with natural pearls, opening a perspective for freshwater pearl cultivation.
Perl; oysters; Marajó Island; Amazon Region; Tocantins River
