Whale's vomit is worth $5,000+ per pound.

Did you know that whale vomit is worth $5,000+ per pound.

In December 2006, a woman in New York who received a gift of a large mass of some sort of waxy substance began hoping against hope that it would turn out to be that rare “floating gold” of the sea: whale vomit. Her sister sent her the 4-pound (1.8-kg) glob, found on a beach 50 years before, as a holiday gift. No one knew what it was, and whale vomit — or what some say is really more like a whale gallstone — was suggested as a possibility. But identifying it as whale vomit, or ambergris, is a daunting task. If it does turn out to be ambergris, the gift could be worth up to $20,000.

Ambergris is an ingredient in fine perfumes. It has what some describe as an inconceivably “smooth” scent. Some say it’s musky, earthy, sweet, or simply indescribable. Aside from its unique odor, it has the trait of causing a scent to stick — in perfumes, it causes the scent to bind to the surface of the skin and stick around, instead of quickly evaporating. Ambergris forms in the intestines of a sperm whale. The whale throws it up because it apparently can’t digest it. Scientist have found squid beaks in clumps of ambergris, leading many to surmise the ambergris is something of a protective secretion that protects sperm whales’ digestive tracts from the scratching of those hard beaks.

When a whale initially vomits up ambergris, it is soft and has a terrible smell. Some marine biologists compare it to scented cow dung. But after floating on the salty ocean for about a decade, the substance hardens into a smooth, waxy, usually rounded piece of nostril heaven. The dung smell is gone, replaced by a scent that has been famous for hundreds of years, probably more. In addition to its use in the perfume industry, it is said to be an aphrodisiac, a homeopathic remedy, and an excellent flavoring for food.

 

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Whale's vomit is worth $5,000+ per pound.