What is the difference between Abalone and Mother of Pearl?

Abalone and mother pearls are usually used interchangeably because people do not see the difference in them. It is very confusing to differentiate between abalone and mother of pearl, in the sense that one refers to the shell, and the other refers to the organism inside the shell.

Mother pearl is a layer of the line inside the shell of mollusks and also refers to the shinning layer inside the cell. The mother of pearl is normally used for decoration of jewelry, musical instruments, and also furniture. Another important function of mother pearl is that is the protection of the mollusks from infections.

Abalone refers to the family of seashells, the abalone has an elevated apex toward the center. It can also be seen that abalone has a darker rainbow shade. Abalone is not found in abundance.

Abalone and mother of pearl are two different things. They are most times thought to be the same because they look very similar. Abalone is the general name for any of a group of marine gastropod mollusks. Its shell looks like the human ear, and it is very delicious when cooked.

On the other hand, the mother of pearl is a blend of materials produced by some mollusks which form their inner shell layer, and it is also known as nacre. It is very strong and looks more like the Abalone. The mother of pearl is meant to protect the mollusks from parasites, infections, and other objects.

Abalone is entirely an organism, whereas the mother of pearl is just a blend of both organic and inorganic materials produced to protect Abalone and other mollusks. Mother of pearl is produced by mollusks and that means it can also be gotten from Abalone.