Fisherman Narong Phetcharaj couldn’t believe his luck after finding a whale vomit on Niyom beach, Surat Thani province, Thailand. Experts at Prince of Songkla University have confirmed that a 30 Kg block of ambergris could be worth $1.2 million.
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Ambergris is one of the strangest natural phenomena created by sperm whales and has been used for centuries. However, its origin remained a mystery for many years.
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According to the Natural History Museum, fossil evidence of ambergris can be traced back to 1.75 million years ago, and humans may have been using it for 1,000 years. Ambergris has long been likened to a treasure of the sea and floating gold. Its origin, however, remained a mystery for many years, until large-scale whaling in the 1800s identified the sperm whale as its sole producer.
Sperm whale – A strain of Whale toothed cephalopods eat large amounts of cephalopods, and most of its indigestible components are vomited out before being digested. However, in rare cases, they move into their intestines and bind together and slowly become a solid mass of ambergris, growing inside them over the years.
Ambergris sediments can be found floating in any ocean or washed ashore, as sperm whales live all over the world. However, they are not common as less than 5% of whale carcasses have them.
The most obvious identifying feature of ambergris is their smell, which has a strong fecal odor. However, it becomes more pleasant as it dries, described as having a musky smell. Its smell is even mentioned in the novel Moby Dick and described as a faint perfume from the terrible smell of a dead whale.
Ambergris contains the unscented alcohol ambrein which is used to make the scent of the perfume last longer. Perfumers have graded the quality of ambergris by its color because the best fragrances are made from pure white varieties, while black ambergris is the less valuable variety. because it contains less ambrein.
But ambergris isn’t just an ingredient in perfumery. In early Arab civilizations, people used it as incense, aphrodisiac, and medicine to treat various ailments of the heart, brain, and senses.
How much does Long Dien Huong cost?
According to The National News, Phetcharaj used to earn $272 a month from fishing, but his life was changed forever after he discovered “Amberjack” off the southern coast of Thailand.
He realized that the mass he found had a wax-like texture and shape like Whale vomit, so he decided to pull it off the beach, wrapping it in a towel to secure it before putting it in a cardboard box. He then informed relatives of his finding and tested it himself at home before being examined by experts from the University.
The whale’s vomit quickly melted when they burned it, confirming that it was real ambergris. After confirming, Phetcharaj said that he received a certificate to prove that it was true. He’s planning to sell whale vomit.
About 35 fishermen in Yemen also found ambergris in the carcass of a sperm whale floating in the Gulf of Aden. The fishermen found rare lumps of vomit weighing nearly 127 kilograms and worth an estimated $1.5 million.
They split the ambergris earnings between themselves and those who helped discover the whale vomit. They also give some money to the poor people in their village.
