Not too long ago, there was a story about a man who found a pearl in his clam stew. The dish itself isn’t particularly expensive, considered a hearty, non-fussy meal by people who make and consume it — but the pearl the guy found ended up being worth about $10,000. It’s things like that, that can remind us just how cunning Mother Nature can be. Clams and oysters are as common as can be, but what they might have inside is as rarefied and valuable as you can get. That’s why this story is particularly awesome: This woman had no idea what she was about to find when she opened up this clam. It seems like she’s just going through the motions, opening up a clam with a knife with a skill that she appears to have mastered. But what happens next is totally shocking: Can you imagine being the person to discover something like this?It’s basically like hacking into a stone with a machete — you need the right skills to do it.
And it’s not just so they can have a snack, although clams are definitely delicious.
A single pearl can fetch anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, especially if it’s the right kind of pearl.
They form when a clam or oyster gets a microscopic object stuck in its flesh. To combat this, the mollusk’s body secretes concentric layers of calcium carbonate. That’s what forms the pearl.
And for this woman, reward might be an understatement.
As you can see, she found a pearl.
Fishing around in the clam’s innards led to the discovery of more pearls than she even bargained for.
A spherical nacreous pearl from a clam or a freshwater mussel could be worth quite a bit of money — otherwise, they’re less valuable but still pretty cool.
As she digs through the clam’s flesh, she reveals pearl after pearl. We’re not sure if any of them are valuable, but the process is exciting to see.
We’ll have to keep checking back for an update on whether or not she got a huge payday from this. In the meantime, we’ll all just contemplate how amazing Mother Nature can be.
