Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

A newly opened Spanish restaurant was able to give a special gift to a couple who turned up to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary when they found a rare black pearl in the plate of clams.

Joaquin Gonzalez Huerta, 66, and his wife Noemi Fernandez, 65, were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and decided to celebrate at the El Campanu seafood restaurant, located in the city of Gijon, in the northern Spanish region of Asturias, which opened just three weeks ago.

Alexis Hernandez Montilla, 29, the manager of the restaurant told Newsflash that the celebration took place on 7th July when the couple ordered “clams with white wine and oven-cooked red sea bream”. The dishes were was made as normal by the chef who did not notice the pearl was there.

Alexis said: “Noemi took a picture to send it to her friends on WhatsApp and they did not notice that the black pearl was there.”

Alexis added that Joaquin took the pearl, and noticed that something was stuck in the shell. He said: “They looked at it and found out that there was a black pearl there, stuck in the shell.”

Joaquin said: “I did not even put it into my mouth because I thought it was an impurity, but then I looked closer and realised it was something else.

Noemi told Newsflash: “It was the colour of a pearl, bright with a beautiful colour.”

She added: “We did not know it was so strange, so unusual, but it was, we checked online and saw that the only black pearl similar to this was also found in a restaurant around 11 years ago.

“We do not know the value of the pearl, but it is rare for sure, and the value is always relative, as it is not like gold or diamonds that have an exact price on the market.

“But I will not sell it for sure, I am going to have a necklace made with it.

“It was a real surprise, we always celebrate our anniversary with a dinner and this time we had a double gift, especially me because I will have a new item of jewellery made.”

Unlike ordinary pearls which are off-white and are formed when the clam or oyster puts a protective cover around a grain of sand to stop it irritating, black pearls are formed when the sand is located near a black strip found lining certain types of shell.

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