Valuable discovery? Lump found on Falmouth beach could be expensive ambergris
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Boston, MA (WBZ) — When young Dylan Duato and some friends spotted an unusual blob on a Falmouth beach recently, they couldn’t figure it out. “I took my foot, and I kind of pushed against it a little bit with my foot,” Dylan said. “And it had kind of like a spongy feeling.”
His uncle walked over, picked it up, and broke off a piece. Inside, it looked like yellow sponge cake. So the family started googling. “We’ve had it for two or three weeks now and it seems like it’s headed more toward the ambergris,” said Paul Duato, Dylan’s father.
Ambergris. It’s poop from only a sperm whale, and it’s worth a ton of money to perfume manufacturers.
“I know that they sell this for so much money,” Dylan said. “Because basically a video I watched a couple years back, it was like insane finds.”
WBZ contacted sperm whale researchers in the Bahamas and sent them photos. They thought maybe ambergris, but maybe a sponge too.
Then, we contacted the Center For Coastal Studies and the New England Aquarium. No positive ID, except the CFCS thought it was probably a sponge.
Now, the Duato family is going to dig around in the mass, to see if there are any squid beaks in it. Sperm whales eat squid. If they find a beak or two, it could be ambergris and worth a lot of money.
But if it’s a sponge? “Whatever it turns out to be, I think we’ve all sort of agreed that it’s been a great experience, a learning experience for us all,” Paul Duato said.
Dylan said if it is ambergris, he is going to save the money for college.
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