Yup - they can
but not so often in sea-based mussels, I think.
It's just an inorganic/protein coating they give to bits of sand. A lot of molluscs can do it, just oysters do it better. Fresh-water pearls come from fresh-water mussles.
(
Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...",
Sat 1 Mar 2008, 15:55,
archived)