apparently whale vomit from a dead whale is worth made money!
Fishermen find $1.5m worth of "whale vomit," lifting them out of poverty
Agroup of fishermen from a war-torn Middle Eastern nation have been lifted out of poverty after they made a lucky discovery in the Gulf of Aden.
The 35 men from Yemen found the carcass of a sperm whale floating in the sea, which turned out to contain more than $1.5 million worth of rare and valuable ambergris,
BBC News reported on Tuesday.
Ambergris is a strange, waxy substance with an almost rock-like appearance—sometimes referred to as "
whale vomit"—that is produced in the intestines of sperm whales.
The substance, which is sometimes found floating in the ocean or washed up on beaches around the world, has long been highly prized by humans. In the past, people have used the substance as a medicine and even an aphrodisiac.
Ambergris has also been highly valued by perfumers as the substance helps scents last longer. Today, ambergris has mostly been replaced by synthetic alternatives in all but the most expensive perfumes due to issues of cost and accessibility.