See text Pinctada is a genus of saltwater oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pteriidae.

Pinctada margaritifera and P. maxima are used for culturing South Sea and Tahitian pearls.

Pearls are also obtained in commercial quantities from some species of the closely related winged oyster genus Pteria.

Research carried out by biologist Aldemaro Romero Jr. allowed him to discover that the first animal population depleted by Europeans in the American continent was a pearl oyster species (Pinctada imbricata) off the coast of Venezuela.

He analyzed historical records and used information about the biology of these and other species to explain its rapid disappearance.