Man Takes Bite at Seafood Restaurant, Spits Out ‘Rare’ Purple Pearl
A woman who recently went out to eat with her father at one of her favorite restaurants decided to treat herself to something she doesn't usually get-and he got a "bonus treat" with his meal.
Brooklyn, 23, a student and writing tutor living in Washington, tucked in to a plate of clams at the "iconic" Ivar's Acres of Clams in Seattle while out to dinner with her father.
As her dad bit into his first clam, they noticed something unusual: The clam had produced a pearl, and not just any pearl, but one with a solid purple sheen.
"When he bit into it, he thought it was a big pebble, but when he took it out, he saw it was the pearl. He showed it to me, and I thought he was messing with me," Brooklyn told Newsweek.
"It looked a lot like a metal BB or a ball bearing, but after handling it, we were sure it had to be a pearl," she continued.
Their server at the restaurant agreed, telling Brooklyn and her father that while "it's rare," they do sometimes find pearls in their clams. Brooklyn said, "Usually they're white, so it's very special that we ended up with a purple one."
Pearls are made by oysters, but they can also be produced by mussels and other bivalve mollusks, such as clams .
Often worn as jewelry , pearls are produced as a natural defense: When an irritant, such as a parasite , enters an oyster, it secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, producing a material called nacre.
Bob Donegan of Ivar's Acres of Clams told Newsweek: "We served 15,393 orders of sauteed clams last year, and since pearls are a natural part of clams, it's not surprising that a customer discovered another one.
"I've not heard of purple ones in the 27 years I've been here though." He added that Brooklyn and her father were "double lucky."
On September 11, Brooklyn, who gave only her first name and goes by /u/nomadquail on Reddit , took to the platform's /r/mildlyinteresting forum to share a photograph of the small purple pearl alongside her plate of food. She wrote, "Found a pearl in a restaurant Manila clam."
The post exploded in popularity and has racked up more than 49,000 upvotes, with one user commenting: "It's the toy in your meal. Enjoy it!"
"One closer to that pearl necklace," another added.
"This happened to me once with an oyster as a child," a user said. "My mom turned it into a ring with a diamond halo for me-adult me still has it! Keep it and do the same!"
Brooklyn told Newsweek she posted the pearl to the subreddit because "people always post such unusual stuff" to the site. "I thought people would be interested to see it," she added.
"I expected it to get just a few upvotes and comments, but it blew up," Brooklyn said.
"I loved all the funny comments that people left making jokes about hunting clams with shotguns and Pirates of the Caribbean and striking it rich," she continued. "I'm glad that everyone had so much fun with it."
As for her plans for the pearl, she said she would like to get it set in a ring. Though some commenters suggested the pearl could be "worth a bit of money," Brooklyn said she "couldn't part with it."
She added: "It's such a unique little thing to have, especially since I can say that we found it in Ivar's. It's such a fun little story."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures you want to share? Send them to with some extra details, and they could appear on our website.
Related Articles
This story was originally published September 22, 2024, 5:00 AM.
