Tennessee restaurant customer finds 50 pearls in oyster

FRANKLIN, Tenn., April 6 (UPI) -- Workers at a Tennessee restaurant said a woman dining on seafood discovered 50 pearls in a single oyster.

Greg Hergest, general manager of Puckett's Boathouse in Franklin, said customer Toni Elliot, 53, was dining on a plate of oysters Thursday when she bit into something hard.

"I went over to see if she was okay, and she goes, 'Oh yes, I just found this pearl in my mouth!'" Hergest told ABC News. "She started pulling out more pearls from her mouth, and the whole table started laughing."

Eric Horton, Elliot's server at the eatery, said the customer kept pulling pearls out of the oyster.

"It happens sometimes, every once in a while. However, this young lady continued to pull pearls out of her mouth, and the only thing we were missing was a string because she found 50 pearls in this one oyster," Horton told WSMV-TV.

Hergest said workers cleaned the pearls and put them in a cup for Elliot to take home.

"It was her oyster, so they're her pearls," Hergest said. "It's like winning the lottery. She was so excited to have them."