The culture of pearl oysters, once the closely guarded monopoly of the Japanese, has now proliferated throughout the Indo-Pacific region and has the potential of providing much-needed export income to cash-poor nations. This has already happened in French Polynesia, where the culture of Pinctada margaritifera is the largest export earner. This bibliography cites 1,221 references to materials published on the biology, fishery, and culture of pearl oysters. References to freshwater or marine pearl-producing organisms other than those in the family Pteriidae are omitted, as are any paleontological references. References from non-scientific journals are also generally omitted. The bibliography does, however, contain materials from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that supposedly detail the secrets of pearl production. Also cited are all relevant works produced by the Japanese National Institute of Aquaculture, the National Pearl Research Institute, and the Nippon Institute for Scientific Research on pearls, the majority of which is written in Japanese. Includes subject and geographical indexes.