A Florida man was about halfway through a plate of steamed clams when he chomped down on something hard — a rare, iridescent purple pearl. George Brock and his wife, Leslie, had been spending a day at the beach Friday in South Florida and stopped at Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar for a bite. Their find could be worth thousands.

"Few are round and few are a lovely color, so this is rare," said gemologist Antoinette Matlins. "I think they have found something precious and lovely and valuable."

The gems occur most frequently in large New England quahogs, clams known for violet coloring on the inside of their shells. The clams in the plate came from Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle, said restaurant manager Tom Gerry.

一名佛罗里达男子在享用一盘清蒸蛤蜊时突然咬到了一些硬硬的东西——原来是一颗罕见绚丽的紫色珍珠。乔治·布洛克和他的妻子莱斯莉，周五一天都在南佛罗里达州的海滩度过，后来两人来到Dave's Last Resort & Raw餐厅用餐。据称他们发现的珍珠价值数千美元。

“很少有圆形的珍珠而且色彩还这么好，所以它很珍贵，”宝石专家安托瓦内特·马丁说，“我想他们找到了一颗美丽、珍贵、而且很值钱的珍珠。”

这些珍珠经常出现在大个的新英格兰圆蛤里，它们正是以紫色的内壳颜色闻名，餐馆经理汤姆·格里说他们所提供的10美元一盘的蛤蜊产自佛罗里达州潘翰德地区的阿巴拉契科拉河。