A fisherman from Thailand, working for 20 thousand Thai baht (50.7 thousand rubles) a month, discovered a record huge piece of sperm whale vomit, which is estimated at 97.4 million baht (243.5 million rubles). The Daily Mail reports.
60-year-old Naris Suwannasang saw some strange pale clumps like stones while walking along the beach. He called his cousins and sisters to help him carry the find home. The relatives carefully studied the found objects and decided that it was ambergris – frozen vomit of a sperm whale. To be on the safe side, they set it on fire with a lighter and smelled a characteristic smell.
According to the fisherman, the ambergris found weighed about 100 kilograms, which makes it unique – people usually find smaller pieces. Suvannasang claims he was contacted by a businessman who promised him 97.4 million baht for the ambergris he found. However, before that, the entrepreneur is going to check the quality of the found substance.
Rybak takes the find very seriously and is going to report it to the police, as he fears that someone might steal it from him.
Ambergris is a waxy substance that is secreted in the intestines of sperm whales. Often referred to as “sperm whale vomit” or “floating gold”. It is commonly used as a fixative in perfume production and can be very expensive depending on its age. Now the cost of ambergris on the international market is about 50 thousand dollars (3.8 million rubles) per kilogram.
Earlier it was reported that a resident of the Taiwanese island Lanyu found a four-kilogram piece on the beach frozen vomit of the sperm whale and got rich. Cheng Shi-Yie, Associate Professor of Natural Sciences, confirmed the object to be ambergris based on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.