MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. – A very expensive ingredient found in high-end perfumes that comes from whales may have been discovered by a diver taking a walk on a Florida beach after Hurricane Milton.
Kristen Marvin believes she found excrement from a sperm whale called ambergris.
It can be worth a small fortune because ambergris makes the scent of perfumes last longer.
Marvin said she was looking for washed-back turtles and hatchlings after the storm when the pile of crap caught her eye.
“I had a pretty good suspicion,” Marvin said. “And I picked it up and had a look at it, and I thought, ‘I’m pretty sure this is ambergris.’”
Marvin said the whale poop looks like a rock, but it’s lighter and it has a waxy substance.
She said she took it home to do some tests to be sure.
She said the ambergris floated in water and when she stuck a lit needle into it, white smoke was produced.
Marvin said she then reported her discovery to NOAA because buying and selling ambergris in America is illegal because sperm whales are protected.
In some other parts of the world, the trade is fair game.
“They call it floating gold or liquid gold,” Marvin said. “From what I can tell, this piece could be worth up to $10-12,000 if you could sell it.”
Marvin said she’s now waiting for NOAA to contact her.
“I don’t know what they’ll do with it,” she said.