Over the past few years, we've been inundated with images and claims of supposed giant clam pearls, almost all of which come from the Philippines.
This is likely due to a story about a supposed 75-pound pearl (34 kilo) a Filipino fisherman had kept under his bed for a decade.
The story was reported on by NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes and so many more. Unfortunately, none of these publications vetted the claims made before picking up the story. Any expert could have told them it was not a pearl. It was a piece of shell.
