Stunned Zeeland men find ten pearls in a single oyster

Two employees of online fish shop Viswinkel Online found an oyster containing ten pearls during the Mussel Day in Yerseke on Saturday.

According to the Viswinkel blog, finding a pear in an oyster is quite common. And even finding two is not unique. But finding ten pearls in a single oyster is very rare.

The oyster is currently being kept in the shop's fridge. Employee Christiaan van der Poel is not quite sure what will happen to it, he said in an interview with Omroep Zeeland. "I do not know what else we can do with it. Make a pearl necklace?" he said. He does not know if the pearls are worth anything, but will cherish the unique find.

Oysters form a pearl when they accidentally take in a grain of sand, a parasite or piece of seaweed instead of plankton. The foreign substance irritates the oyster and to protect itself it forms a thin layer of nacre around it.