Walking his dog, a man found 'floating gold' on the beach

A fisherman in Scotland was walking his dog along the beach in Ayrshire when his dog found a blob on the beach, possibly valuable whale waste.

"I work on a fishing boat so I know what ambergris is. I've never seen it before but I've heard stories about it ," fisherman Patrick Williamson, 37, told South West News Service The vomit has a rock-like consistency and is called ambergris.

"I was walking along Irvine beach with my dog. I looked at something in the seaweed, and the dog ran over and dropped his ball. Dogs don't usually drop their balls so I knew something was up." something there ,' he said. After his dog discovered the mysterious blob, Williamson picked it up to examine it.

One thing is for sure, if it washes ashore, the lucky person who finds it has struck 'gold'.

According to the Natural History Museum website, ambergris is known as 'treasure of the sea' and 'floating gold'.

Sperm whales feed on creatures such as squid and cuttlefish, and although most indigestible parts of their prey are regurgitated before digestion, it sometimes remains stuck in their intestines, where they bind together and grow over many years into a mass of ambergris.

Scientists debate whether whales regurgitate ambergris – hence why it is called whale vomit – or whether they pass it with their feces. One thing is for sure, if it washes ashore, the lucky person who finds it has struck 'gold'.

Large blocks of ambergris have been sold for millions of dollars for use in the perfume industry. High-end perfumers use ambergris because it helps scents adhere to human skin.

The substance is solid by weight, and a block found in the Canary Islands weighing 21 pounds is worth nearly $500,000.

Ambergris in large quantities can cost millions of dollars.

In 2021, fishermen found a 280-pound chunk of whale waste worth about $1.5 million.

Williamson said the rock, which he believes to be ambergris, weighed about 5.5 ounces or 0.34 pounds. One way to test for ambergris is to heat a needle and place it on the surface of the stone. Ambergris will melt quickly, but ice will not.

'I weighed it when I first picked it up and it weighed about 5.5 ounces. It's not really big compared to some of the other pieces that have been found ,' Williamson said.

"We tested it with a hot needle and it worked exactly the same as ambergris ," he added.