![[Unlocking the Air]](/unlock/perm-images/1332banner700x103.jpg "gold creek, golden ears provincial park, bc")
Yesterday while we were giving the doglet his chase-the-ball-obsessively-at-the-beach time I noticed a tiny shell at my feet, and picked it up. I thought it was just a small bivalve, but it turned out to be a snail shell, miniscule and paper-thin. I've looked it up since then, and it's some kind of bubble shell. I'm not sure what kind specifically, but something called Haminoea virescens seems to be common in these waters, so likely that's what it is.
At any rate, since I'd spotted one, I started looking for more. They're tiny, transluscent, and extremely fragile; I broke several just trying to pick them up. I've never noticed them before. Likely that's partly because they're so small, and partly because their fragility reduces their survival rate as shells on a beach. But I also can't help wondering if it's something to do with the seasons and what happens with seaslugs, so that they only appear at certain times of year. Maybe I'll contact an expert I've done some work for and ask him.
But here's the interesting part. While looking for these tiny shells, I found Something Else. For scale, you can also see it in the background of the bubble shell picture.
Looks like a pearl to me.
Half of one, anyway; a blob grown around an irritation on some shell. You can see the growth rings on the back. Amazing what you can find on a beach.
Somehow I don't think this particular pearl is going to make my fortune, though.
