The weird world of ambergris

Its deep, dark waters have long been the source of mythical creatures, and to this day we frequently discover previously undocumented life-forms through deep water exploration. One thing that seems to unify aquatic life, especially when compared to our landbased existence, is that it can appear very strange and almost alien. Beach-combers are often the lucky recipients of many of the stranger offerings from the sea, and few are more unusual than a substance known as ambergris. Many people will have heard the name, and some may know that it is connected to whales and/or perfume, but few are aware of just what a remarkable substance ambergris is. And the fact that there are still aspects which are not fully understood means the air of mystery is maintained. Along with allure of fine fragrance, stories abound of people stumbling upon a football-sized lump of ambergris on a beach and going on to make a small fortune by selling it to perfume companies. Today the purchase price of ambergris is around US$20 per gram,1 so it certainly seems worth looking closer at what is lying between the rocks and driftwood along the shoreline. A 32 pound (14.75 kg) lump of ambergris was sold for US$236,000 after it was washed up on a beach in Australia in 2006.2

What is it?

The name is derived from the French for grey amber: ambre gris. Ambergris is a waxy substance created within the intestines of sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, that is believed to protect the intestinal wall from sharp squid beaks ingested by the whales. Sperm whales are the largest of the toothed whales and squid forms the majority of its diet, including both giant and colossal squid. The concreted mass is then either excreted in the whale’s faeces or vomit, depending on the size of the ambergris, and can then be found floating in the sea or washed up on beaches, where it is collected. However, there are no records of anyone actually witnessing a sperm whale releasing ambergris. Recently produced ambergris is tar-like, dark brown in colour, and has what most people consider to be an unpleasant odour. However, as it dries, the processes of photo-degredation and oxidation cure it, lighten its colour and develop its odour to a pleasant mixture of sweet, marine and earthy notes. Its use in fragrances is primarily as a fixative though it also serves to highlight other more subtle tones within a perfume’s formulation. The best ambergris has been described as having a fragrance similar to isopropanol, but without the harshness. The more pleasant olfactory tones are believed to be produced as a result of oxidisation and the development of bacteria, which has since been named Spirillum recti physeterist.3 Although sperm whale populations are distributed widely across the world’s oceans, there are “hot-spots” for finding ambergris. These include the Atlantic, the coasts of Brazil, Madagascar, Africa, and the East Indies, the Maldives, China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Molucca islands. The majority of commercially collected ambergris comes from the Bahamas and Providence Island in the Caribbean. There is still a certain amount of mystery surrounding why these hot spots exist when sperm whales roam so freely across the world’s oceans. Whether the whales are only capable of expelling the mass of ambergris while in warm waters or that the flow of the ocean currents simply favour bringing objects to these shores, it is yet another puzzle for scientists to solve.