Couple On Romantic Stroll Found Whale Vomit Worth $800,000 On The Beach

A stroll along a beach in Thailand has brought fortune to a couple after they stumbled upon ambergris -- a rare secretion from whales that float in the ocean.

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According to reports, 31-year-old Veera Juengboon and his wife, 26-year-old Monruedee were on a trip to Phuket to see their friend when their eyes went to a yellowish lump on the beach. The lump was covered in sea trash that was washed up on the beach. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the rock was soft, smooth and waxy, which gave him some idea what it could be.

Juengboon, who often watches science documentaries, recognised the substance. He picked up the roughly 15-kilogram mass and brought it back to the hotel room, where he began to examine it.

He had seen in one of the documentaries that when a small part of the mass is burnt, it melts quickly. He tried the same and saw the tiny dollop melt out in an instant, confirming his assumption.

He had recently read the news about a fisherman in Nakhon Si Thammarat who had found something similar a few weeks ago, for which he made $3.2 million. Depending on the quality of ambergris, each kilogram can be priced at around $40,000. With 15 kilograms, they¡¯re looking to get around $600,000. The couple is now on the lookout for the right buyer to get them the best deal.

What is ambergris?

To the uninitiated, ambergris is formed from a secretion of the bile duct in the intestines of the sperm whale. Most of the times it is found floating on the sea or washed up on coastlines however in some cases it is found in the abdomens of dead sperm whales too.

While scientists don¡¯t have an exact reason for why ambergris is produced in the whale¡¯s body, some theories suggest that the substance is produced by the whale's gastrointestinal tract to ease the passage of hard, sharp objects that it may have eaten.

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Why is ambergris so expensive?

Ambergris is helpful in making expensive varieties of perfumes as it allows the scent to last longer, thanks to the ambrein molecule, which on exposure to a certain type of activated oxygen, exudes fragrance compounds that are known to be lighter and more volatile.

The reason this particular whale vomit is considered to be so expensive is that it is rare and difficult to procure as most of it is found to float in the ocean and very rarely does it come in direct contact of humans, as was the case in this story.