A professor found a lump of ambergris, or "floating gold," worth 500,000 euros in a dead whale. The stone, which was worth 500,000 euros, or around $545,000, was made of ambergris — a strange, naturally-occurring substance that's known as "floating gold." It can be judged by the color of the ambergris, with black having the least ambrein and white the most. Top perfumes are usually made with white ambergris, while substitute chemicals are used in cheaper ones. In 2021, a group of fishermen in the Gulf of Aden sold a chunk of ambergris worth around $1.5 million to a buyer in the United Arab Emirates.

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Persons: Antonio Fernández, Alexis Rosenfeld, Richard Sabin Organizations: Service, of Animal Health, Food Security, Universidad, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, National Geographic, United, United Arab Emirates, BBC Locations: Wall, Silicon, La, Gulf, Aden, United Arab