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I recently recovered this Cameleolopha bellaplicata valve from the Upper Cretaceous (Middle Turonian) Prionocyclus hyatti ammonite zone of the Carlile Shale here in New Mexico. I was initially delighted with its preservation and upon further inspection, noticed a feature on the inside of the valve... ...I thought it may be a blister pearl. I reached out to Dr. Spencer Lucas (New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science) to get his thoughts. His response was: "years ago, we found a Texigryphaea near Tucumcari with a similar pearl in it." Pleased with that response I turned to the interwebs for more information. V. Friedman and A. Hunt (2004) wrote and abstract on Fossil Pearls from the Upper Cretaceous of Texas in which they are reporting Cenomanian and Turonian occurrences...I plan to reach out to Adrian Hunt to get his thoughts on this specimen as well. I also found a paywalled paper on Fossil Pearl-growths written by R. Bullen Newton (1908) in the Journal of Molluscan Studies and have requested access to that literature. Then I turned to our Forum. @LanceH found a pearl in the Kamp Ranch Limestone... ...as did @Mikrogeophagus ... ... @Bobby Rico has a blister pearl specimen from the Norfolk Coast (UK)... ...and @rocket is working on some Campanian Ostrea semiplana pearls from Hannover, Germany. There are numerous threads here on the forum where fossil pearls are discussed. These conversations, along with some modern representation from interweb imagery... ...have led me down an unfamiliar path. My understanding is that these fossils are uncommon. And with all that said, I pose this question... ...is this a fossil blister pearl? I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for your time.

•Petrified Oyster With Crystalized Pearl• Found Santa Fe Trail Kansas City Missouri, Fossil Oyster Blister Pearl, What's it Called Proper? Info?