'Nearly busted my teeth': Dinner guest bites down on a mouthful of pearls

Eric Bourquin was sitting down to an oyster feast with his wife and a group of friends nearVictoria, B.C., Saturdaywhen he suddenlybit down on something hard.

"That nearly busted my teeth," said Bourquin. "And then all these pearls started coming out."

It wasn't just one or two pearls. One by one he spat them out,and eventually poked and squeezed48 out of a single oyster a string of pearls if you will.

Bourquin's friend harvests oysters during the winter near Courtenay, B.C, on the east coast of Vancouver Island and freezes them. The exact location is top secret.

When Bourquin and his wife Alice Dehen visitedfor dinner,the friend took the oysters out of the freezer, pan-fried themand served them for dinner.

It wasn't long beforeDehen noticed something strange was happening. At first shethought her husband was choking on something.

"I'm like, what ishe doing?" she said. "He was spitting these little pearls out, andmore just kept coming."

The couple has lived on the West Coast their entire lives and say they've never experienced anything like this.

Internet search

Bourquintook to the internetto see if the pearls were of any valuebut so far hasn't come up withanything conclusive aside from the factthat finding 48 pearls in one shell is very rare.

"That's way rare," says Gordie McLellan, owner of Mac's Oysters near Buckley Bay, B.C.

The shellfish farming business has been in the family for 40 years and in that time several pearls have been discovered but never in multiples like this.

It's estimated the likelihood of finding one pearl in an oyster is 1 in 10,000.

"To find 48, that's pretty awesome," said McLellan.

True friends

Bourquin'soyster-harvesting friend let him keep the pearls they are sure to be the highlightof dinner partyconversations for years to come unless, he says, someone wants to make him an offer.

"If anything comes of it,we'll split the money."