‘Floating gold’ worth £430,000 found in a dead whale in Canary Islands
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Barcelona: A postmortem carried out on a dead sperm whale in Canary Island of La Palma revealed a hidden treasure of floating gold in the animal’s colon, The Guardian reported.
Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, who is the head of head of the institute of animal health and food security at the University of Las Palmas, wanted to know the reason for the whale’s death when it washed up on the beach.
It was however a difficult job to perform the examination on the beach because of the rising tide.
Finally when Rodríguez inspected the animal’s innards, he found out a stone of 50-60 cm in diameter weighing 9.5kg.
He took the stone in hands just as the waves were washing the animal and people were watching what was happening.
However people didn’t know the stone he was carrying in his hands was ambergris, a rare substance that could fetch about €500,000 (£430,000).
The substance, produced by one in 100 sperm whales, is well-known among perfume lovers and is highly sought after too.
Until large-scale whale hunting began in the early 19 th century, origins of this substance remained a mystery.
Ambergris gets formed in sperm whales when they eat large quantities of squid and cuttlefish.
Most of the fish they eat cannot be digested and is vomited but some will remain inside becoming ambergris over the years.
Sometime ambergris is excreted which will float on the seas thus getting the name floating gold.
In some cases it will grow so large killing the whale as in the case of the sperm whale found on the beach.
Ambergris has the scent of sandalwood and the alcohol called ambrein in it can extend the life of scents.
Given its popularity among perfumers, the US, Australia and India have banned the trade in ambergris to stop hunting whales.
The institute to which Rodríguez is working is looking for a buyer and the proceeds will go to helping victims of the volcano that erupted on La Palma in 2021, he reportedly said.