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Thread: Whale vomit find brings FU money

  1. #1
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    Default Whale vomit find brings FU money

    My best find so far is some dog crap and coney Island whitefish.


    Whale 'vomit' sparks cash bonanza



    An Australian couple who 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, found in the innards of sperm whales and used in perfumes after it has been vomited up.

    Sought after because of its rarity, ambergris can float on the ocean for years before washing ashore.

    Worth up to $20 a gram, Mr Wright's find on a South Australian beach could net his family US$295,000 (£165,300).

    At first, Mr Wright and his wife Loralee left the strange lump on the beach where it was found.

    However, two weeks later the couple returned to Streaky Bay and found it still lying there.

    Floating gold

    Curious, Mrs Wright persuaded her husband to take it home.

    AMBERGRIS FACTS
    Found in warm water oceans around the world
    Bile secreted by sperm whales as a digestion aid
    Solidifies and floats on water, sometimes for years
    Used in perfumes, medicines, flavourings
    Banned in US under endangered species legislation
    Internet investigations failed to resolve the mysterious matter of the lump's identity, so the couple turned to local marine ecologist Ken Jury for help.
    "I immediately decided it was ambergris - it couldn't be anything else," Mr Jury told Australia's ABC radio.

    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.

    The hard beaks of giant squid, a main source of food for the whale, have often been found inside lumps of ambergris.

    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.

    "[But] after 10 years, it's considered clean and all you're getting then is the wonderful musky, very sweet perfume, which I've got to say is ultra smooth - it's unbelievable."

  2. #2
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    Yep, why can't I find some stuff like this?

  3. #3
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    300 grand for a piece of whale puke? The chances of finding that must of been one in a million.

  4. #4
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    They find some on lbi every year

  5. #5
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    What does it look like have you ever seen it up close?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by justsalt View Post
    They find some on lbi every year
    Sorry. With all due respect I don't think you know what you are talking about. Have not heard of any found in NJ.
    I checked and it's usually found overseas. Here is the latest. Also known as ambergris
    http://www.techtimes.com/articles/88...at-auction.htm

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by seamonkey View Post
    What does it look like have you ever seen it up close?

    heard it looks like poo. Pretty stinky as well.

  8. #8
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    Interesting stuff I found on whale vomit
    http://io9.gizmodo.com/5855911/why-w...s-so-delicious

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