Ambergris—Neptune’s Treasure ! 
By C. P. IpbyLu 
Research Professor, The Marine Laboratory 
University of Miami 
[With 2 plates] 
TueEre is something ludicrous and yet pathetic in the contemplation 
of a fond mother storing a chunk of decaying malodorous flotsam from 
the seashore in her refrigerator in the vain hope that it will be the 
means of paying for her son’s education. The hope that inspired her 
action, and which prompts scores of people every day to pick up and 
treasure the most repulsive pieces of dead flesh, jellyfish, yellowed wax, 
rubber, and hundreds of other objects tossed onto the beaches by the 
tides, is the expectation that they have found a piece of that romantic 
and improbable treasure from the sperm whale’s intestine, ambergris. 
The Marine Laboratory receives dozens of inquiring letters every 
week. Some are requests for the identification of queer sea creatures, 
others for advice on buying shrimp boats, still others want information 
on “everything about the ocean.” The fattest file of all concerns 
ambergris. Everybody from tots to retired oldsters have heard of 
ambergris, and have gained greatly exaggerated ideas of its cash value. 
But the lure of easy riches, to be casually picked up on the beach, ap- 
peals to all of us. If there is added the romantic overtones of amber- 
gris, the beachcomer is easily led to transmute anything he cannot 
identify into this treasure. 
Interest in ambergris is by no means new. It is repeatedly men- 
tioned in ancient oriental writings. Ideas of its origin are nearly 
as fantastic as the beliefs regarding its marvelous properties. 
Very early the whale was recognized to be connected with the pro- 
duction of ambergris, but it was hard for observers to accept the 
leviathan as the primary source. Birds, trees, seals, crocodiles, and 
bees are among the creatures which were believed to be responsible, 
the whale simply swallowing their product. 
Certain kinds of birds, especially those living on Madagascar, were 
supposed to produce dung which melted in the sun and ran into the 
1 Reprinted by permission from Sea Frontiers, vol. 4, No. 4, November 1958. 
377 
