When a body of a dead sperm whale washed ashore Las Palmas, Canary Islands last month, Antonio Fernandez Rodriguez, the head of the institute of animal health and food security at the University of Las Palmas wanted to know the cause of the whale's death. But this was in no ways a normal case as during inspection of the body of the whale, Antonio Fernandez Rodriguez found a treasure worth $250,000 inside the whale.

"What I took out was a stone about 50-60cm in diameter weighing 9.5kg. The waves were washing over the whale. Everyone was watching when I returned to the beach but they didn't know that what I had in my hands was ambergris," said Antonio Fernandez Rodriguez.

According to the experts at University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the whale died after a nearly 20-pound chunk of the substance, known as ambergris, caused chronic obstructive inflammation in the animal's colon.

Ambergris is a substance formed in the digestive system of a sperm whale and it is so rare and only one out of a hundred sperm whales actually produce this. This substance is formed when whales eat irritants such as beak. Due to its rarity, a gram of it is worth $27 while a pound could rake in $10,000. Manufacturers in the perfume industry as use this substance to make their perfumes last longer. It is also often called ‘floating gold’ or ‘treasure of the ocean’.

According to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, it is illegal in almost all countries to kill a sperm whale as the mammals are an endangered species. Antonio Rodriguez also said that if the Ambergris is worth anything, the island will sell it and distribute the money amongst the people of the island who need it the most while referring to the people who were displaced due to a volcanic eruption in 2021.