CULTURED WORKPLACE: Brendan Breen has developed a way for quahogs to produce pearls, which he plans to sell overseas or to jewelry makers closer to home. / PBN PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN
A COMMERCIAL QUAHOGGER since he was 14, Brendan Breen knew that the clams don’t often produce pearls. The discovery of such a gem in the wild is considered “incredibly rare,” he says. But as an aquaculture student at the University of Rhode Island, Breen realized that quahogs share a striking anatomical similarity to pearl-producing oysters…
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