A titanic clam shell, its ridged valves towering like ancient cathedral doors, yawns wide to reveal fleshy, iridescent innards. The shell’s exterior is weathered ivory streaked with pearlescent blues and greens, each ribbed contour catching faint light. Inside, velvet-soft mantle tissue undulates around a colossal, lustrous pearl—smooth, opalescent, and nearly as large as a human head—nestled in the clam’s gaping maw as if it were a guardian of some hidden oceanic treasure.#ocean#