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For Yemeni fisherman Fares Abdulhakeem and his friends, the day was like any other as they headed out to sea to earn a living in the war-torn country -- until they hit the jackpot in the belly of a whale. Abdulhakeem related how he was among 35 fishermen who stumbled upon a floating sperm whale carcass in February, about 26 kilometres (16 miles) off the coast of the southern city of Aden. He said they dragged the dead mammal back to shore, where they sliced it open and struck "floating gold", or ambergris, a rare substance formed in the whale's...

A 35-man fishing crew in Yemen netted themselves a hunk of whale vomit worth $1.5 million. Ambergris, known as "floating gold," is a rare substance found only in the bellies of sperm whales. The fishermen sold off the 280-pound hunk of ambergris and bought new houses, cars, and boats. Ambergris is particularly valuable for its use making perfumes' scents last longer. According to National Geographic, Chanel and Lanvin use ambergris in some of their high-end scents. The substance was a rare find. The fishing boat just happened to haul up a sperm whale's carcass while fishing in the Gulf of...

The legend goes that whale sick – ambergris – is extremely valuable. But evidence suggests that ambergris is not vomited up by whales at all. In fact, it may come out of the other end…Generally, we don’t think too much about our excretions – we like to dispose of them as soon as possible. However, one group of whales, sperm whales, produce an excretory substance called ‘ambergris’ that is very valuable indeed. There are three species of sperm whale. The iconic sperm whale, which is the largest toothed whale on the planet, and then the much smaller and less...

It could've just been a large rock, but something told Narit Suwansang that he had found something more. It's not gold, but it might as well have been. According to Thai news outlet Thairath, the plain yellow-beige rock which Suwansang found lying innocently along a beach in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Nov 26 turned out to be whale vomit. And before anyone starts gagging, that stuff's pricey. Ambergris, or whale puke really, is formed when a sperm whale throws up and its bile floats along the ocean till it washes up on shore as a hardened chunk. It's used mainly...

Strange but True: According to the ancients, parfumeurs and Arab royalty, the old saying might as well go: "Worth its weight in whale waste". A ten-year-old vacationing in Wales stumbles across a lump worth nearly $6,000. A 67-year-old New York native receives a candlelike rock in the mail from her 80-year-old sister and discovers she may be $18,000 richer. All because a whale had a bit of indigestion. That upset stomach creates ambergris, a rare substance that has been highly valued for thousands of years as an ingredient in perfume and pharmaceuticals. Ambergris originates in the intestines of male sperm...

North Wales is facing a gold rush after 'whale vomit' was found washed up on its beaches. Valuable ambergris - known as floating gold - has recently been found at Rhos on Sea and Shell Island, reports the Daily Post. Finds of ambergis can be worth around £2,000 - and they could lead to a gold rush among would-be beachcombers. Ambergis is used to produce perfume and can fetch more than £10 a gram. It is produced when the whale has been eating squid and their parrot-like beaks have irritated the walls of its innards. Rarely recovered on British shores,...

SYDNEY - A family on the south Australian coast found a piece of whale vomit on the beach that is tipped to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, national radio reported. The chunk of ambergris, which is sought after by perfume manufacturers, weighed 14.75 kilograms and is worth about 20 US dollars per gram, ABC radio said — making a total of 295,000 dollars. Fisherman Leon Wright and his wife Loralee found the ambergris, which sperm whales are believed to vomit to rid their intestines of hard objects such as squid beaks, on a remote beach near Streaky Bay....