A father found a giant clam on the beach - but he refuses to open it to see if there's a bank-busting priceless pearl inside.

Gabriel Torrejos, 27, said he saw the giant shell on his way to see a witch doctor in Tagbilaran City, Cebu, the Philippines on November 19.

His son has been suffering from a recurring fever for over a month so he decided to bring take to a local black magic practitioner in the remote fishing village.

Gabriel, a workshop technician, now believes the find was directly related to the spooky trek to see the conjurer - and is too superstitious to open the clam.

He said: ''It was raining that day so I saw the giant clam glistening on the ground on the way to the witch doctor.

''I first saw its tail so I decided to take it out. I was surprised to see how big it is. It has not been opened yet and I want it to remain that way.''

Gabriel said that he will soak the clam in water overnight to remove the mud. He intends to keep it in his house as a decoration.

He added: ''I'm not going to open it, I don't want to. I just want to keep it as a souvenir.''

In August 2016, the world's largest known pearl - worth an estimated 100m USD was found in the neighbouring province of Palawan where a local fisherman had been keeping it under his bed for 10 years.