The crew of a fishing boat from Yemen just caught $1.5 million worth of whale vomit – actually ambergris, which the Natural History Museum in London says is often called “floating gold” because it’s so rare. Once it’s cleaned up, ambergris is used to make high-end perfume last longer; Chanel and Lanvin are reported to use it to this day.
The 35 impoverished Yemeni fishermen were working in the Gulf of Aden when they hauled up a sperm whale carcass. As they towed it back to port, they realized they might have something valuable because it smelled awful. Ambergris is known for its putrid smell.
When the fishermen cut into the whale back on land, they found a 280-pound lump of ambergris in its belly. They sold it to a buyer from the United Arab Emirates for $1.5 million and split the money evenly. The India Times said some used their profits to buy new homes, boats and cars.
“The smell wasn’t very nice, but it was worth lots of money,” one crewman told the BBC.
Ambergris got the whale vomit name because sperm whales often can’t digest the sharp beaks of many of the cephalopods (including squid and octopus) they eat by the ton. The mass of beaks and other material can combine with a waxy secretion from the whale’s intestines to produce the rare (and valuable) ambergris. Read more:
https://www.insider.com/whale-vomit-worth-millions-fishermen-2021-6
