Thai Fisherman Finds Whale Vomit Worth More Than 3 Million Dollars

NEW YORK (VINnews) — A Thai fisherman who earns less than 700$ a month stumbled across a sea treasure trove which may net him over 3 million dollars.

Naris Suwannasang, 60, saw several pale rock-like pale lumps washed up on a beach when he was walking by the sea in Nakhon Si Thammarat, southern Thailand. Suwannasang at first thought that they were rocks but on closer investigation realized that they may be ambergris, one of the most valuable substances in the ocean. Ambergris, which is actually whale vomit, can produce an odorless alcohol which can be extracted to make a perfume’s scent last longer.

Suwannasang called his cousins to help him take the items home, where they examined them by burning them with a lighter. This caused the stones to melt instantly while exuding a musky smell which confirmed to them that the rock was indeed ambergris. The rare secretion from whales, also known as gray amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. It is also one of the most expensive ingredients in perfume production, used by perfumers as a fixative – something that equalises vapor pressures, and thus the volatilities, of the raw materials in a perfume oil, as well as to increase the tenacity of a scent.

For this reason, it has historically been highly sought after by perfumers, and played a seminal part in the whaling industry’s success from the 18th to the mid-19th century, which saw some 50,000 sperm whales killed each year. As a result, sperm whales became an endangered species, leading the International Whaling commission to prohibit commercial whaling in 1982. Many countries have banned trade in ambergris in order to discourage illegal whaling, but the substance can legally be sold in the UK, France and Switzerland.

One whale’s vomit is another man’s million-dollar treasure. #Thailand #Ambergris #Perfume #Cosmetics pic.twitter.com/kuWyD5zAHC

— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) December 1, 2020

Mr Suwannasang said that the potential ambergris weighed 220 lbs (100kg), making it one of the largest deposits of the whale secretion ever found.

The fisherman claimed he had been contacted by a businessman offering him 960,000 Thai baht  per kilogram if the ambergris is proven to be of a high enough quality.

In total, that would land Naris a cool 96,000,000 Thai baht – around 3.3 million dollars.

‘The businessman told me that he will come to check the quality of the ambergris later and the price shocked me,’ he said.

‘I could receive around 960,000 THB per kilogram if the ambergris I found is the best grade.’

Naris is now waiting for specialists to confirm that the material found is ambergris.

‘I also plan to go to the police and have them record my discovery as I feared that they might be stolen from my house,’ he said.

An odourless alcohol called ambrein is extracted from ambergris and used by perfume makers to make a perfume’s scent last longer – particularly by the producers of more expensive perfumes.

Ambergris comes from sperm whales, which eat large volumes of cephalopods – marine animals such as squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

Some scientists believe that whales then vomit up the substance but Richard Sabin, a curator of marine animals at the Natural Museum, believes otherwise. He said that ‘ambergris forms in the intestines and passes along with fecal matter, forming an obstruction in the rectum’, according to The Sun.

Freshly produced ambergris is said to have a marine, fecal-like odour – likened to the smell of farm manure mixed with that of the ocean. As it ages, however, it aquires a sweet, earth smell – likened to the fragrance of running alcohol without the chemical scent.