Fisherman finds treasure in oyster

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Keen fisherman Dan McAlpine will not be surprised if more people head to Burnett Heads after he struck treasure there.Mr McAlpine was fishing from the shore several months ago when family members started prying oysters off the rocks and eating them.

“I started cracking a few oysters and eating them too, while I was fishing,” he said.

“Then I felt something in my mouth and when I pulled it out I found it was a black pearl.”

Mr McAlpine said he found the pearl about six months ago and had been researching his find ever since. And he has the facts and figures at his fingertips.

“Only about one in 100,000 pearls is a black pearl,” he said.

“They only occur in black-lipped oysters, and only one in 15,000 oysters will spawn a pearl.”

Mr McAlpine said he had been talking online to a woman in the US who knew about pearls, and she had told him it was a good size for a black pearl. Pearls can form in an oyster around a grain of sand or a chip off a shell.

“The nacre is what makes it shine,” Mr McAlpine said.

“Being a natural pearl, it’s got thicker nacre than a cultured pearl.”

The East Bundaberg man said because the pearl grew in the flesh rather than on the shell, it was almost round. It also has attractive black- and gold-coloured lines on it. Mr McAlpine plans to take the pearl to an expert within the next few days to have it valued. He will also have it x-rayed to prove it is a natural pearl. How much it is worth will shape his plans for the rare find.

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