Whale 'vomit' sparks cash bonanza!!

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An Australian couple picked up an odd-looking fatty lump from a quiet beach are in line for a cash windfall. Leon Wright and his wife took home a 14.75kg lump of ambergris (amber'gree) worth up to $20 a gram, found in the innards of sperm whales and used in perfumes after it has been vomited up. FULL STORY HERE

Sought after because of its rarity, ambergris can float on the ocean for years before washing ashore.Mr Wright's find on a South Australian beach could net his family US$295,000 (£165,300).

Mythologised for thousands of years, ambergris has been referred to as "floating gold" by scientists and scavengers who long for a windfall amid the surf.
Expelled from the abdomen of the giant sperm whale, often while hundreds of kilometres away from land, ambergris is a natural excrement thought to be used by the whale as a digestion aid.
Initially, ambergris is a soft, foul-smelling waste matter that floats on the ocean.
But years of exposure to the sun and the salt water of the ocean transform the waste into a smooth, exotic lump of compact rock that boasts a waxy feel and a sweet, alluring smell.

"It's quite remarkable when you think about it, because when the whale throws this out, it's discarded material that they can't digest," Mr Jury explained.

"After 10 years, it's considered clean, all you're getting is a wonderful musky, very sweet perfume, which I've got to say is ultra smooth - it's unbelievable."



Learn somethin new everyday.

I guess barf from a sperm whale is better than sperm from a barf whale?

Here's a sperm whale in action as I recorded the process of ambergris being evacuated from the depths of the sperm whale's bowels, not unlike the way a cat yaks up it's hairballs...

Click on the image for more.