Fisherman Discovers Rare Melo Pearl in Seafood – Worth up to $350,000

A crab fisherman was ecstatic after discovering a rare orange Melo pearl in his seafood.

Prasarnphon Phunwan, 40, of Thailand, brought home an extremely large sea snail captured while fishing for crabs in Prachuap Khiri Khan, one of the western provinces of Thailand.

Phunwan, discovered a pearl when slicing off the cooked flesh while boiling his seafood for dinner.

He then showed the brilliant yellow-orange pearl to his younger brother, who looked it up on the internet and informed him it may be a sort of costly Melo.

Fisherman Prasarnphon said: “My family had been fishing for generations, but I believe our fate is about to change because of my lunch.”

The family is keeping the rare stone in a plastic container wrapped in a cotton ball, but it has not yet been weighed.

Officers from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources and the local fisheries department have been notified, but they have yet to visit the family to verify the pearl's legitimacy.

Neighbours, on the other hand, have already come to their home to inspect the pearl.

Prasarnphon went on to say that after the pearl has been examined by officials, they would be ready to sell it at the appropriate price.

He said: ‘We know that the pearl is expensive so we want to give it to the person at the right price after it has been checked.’

Trucker Monthian Jansuk discovered a similar pearl in Chonburi province in February, while fisherman Hatchai Niyomdecha discovered the unusual stone in Nakhon Si Thammarat in January. Niyomdecha was given up to $351,000 for the 7.68-gram valuable diamond, implying that the most recent lucky fisherman's fortunes might change very soon.

Melo pearls vary in hue from orange to tan to brown, with orange being the most costly. They are often found off the coast of Myanmar in the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea and are generated by carnivorous sea snails known as Volutidae.

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