Rounds, lustrous objetcs growing on coral reefs often intrigue divers. They look like giants pearls, but they are really plants called sea pearls. Found throughout Caribbean waters to depths of nearly 300 feet, the globes of these green algae are singles cells that can exceed an inch in diameter – making them among the largest cells in the world.

Though not fit for a pirate´s Chest, sea pearls, Ventricaria ventricosa, have their own intrinsic value.

“They display remarkable regenerative qualities,” say Jhon W. La Claire II, a botanist at the University of Texas at Austin. If a pearl is punctured by a fish, it breaks into hundreds of tiny spheres that eventually grow into new sea pearls.

“So the plant turns a wound into a means of asexual reproduction,” he explains.

Sources: Pearlsofjoy

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