Diver Opens Clam to Find an Extremely Rare Gold Pearl
Have you ever seen someone get a pearl out of a clam? I knew that pearls came from clams, but I guess I've never actually seen the process of how they remove them. Located in the Ahe Atoll 300 miles northeast of Tahiti, @kamokapearl sources sustainably produced local pearls. They share really cool videos of their divers collecting the clams, then opening up the clam shells to see what's inside. And what's even cooler is that they don't kill the clams to do it.
Kamoka shared a video at the end of November showing how the process works. The diver first collects the clams from a rope that is brought up from underwater. He puts them on a table to clean them up and opens each one by placing a small piece of wood inside to keep it open, but not open it all the way. Next, he uses pliers to open it just enough and inserts tweezers to find and gently remove the pearl. Wait until you see the size of this gold pearl!
Isn't that cool?! After watching this video, I'm not going to even tell you how many more of @Kamoka's videos that I watched! There are so many different colors and sizes, and it's fascinating to see what surprise each clam offers up. Like in this video where they find a "huge" chrome pearl and put it next to the gold pearl. It definitely is about twice as big! I could watch these videos all day!
Related: Video of Sea Otter Enjoying a Clam Snack at Chicago Aquarium Is So Sweet and Innocent
The video went viral and is inching up towards 6 million views and has more than a thousand comments. @Puppy got nearly 30 thousand likes for the comment, "I love how gentle you are with them! All the other pearl extraction videos I’ve seen they just break open the shell" and another commenter added, "Thank you for letting them live! For having compassion for our mother earth and her creatures"!
Kamoka Answers Questions About Pearls
Seems that I wasn't the only one fascinated with this video. @Caitlin Mauer wondered, "Do clams ever just “spit” pearls out? Like are there pearls just chilling on the ocean floor?" to which Kamoka replied, "Yes 100%". @williamdaniels63 asked, "How long does it take to produce another pearl" to which Kamoka replied, "The next pearl will come out a year or two later." @Ash asked, "Does this let them live?" and the response was yes.
Many people asked how pearls were actually formed. National Geographic has a cool video that explains the process. Who knew that one tiny piece of sand or a little disruption could be transformed into something so beautiful!
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