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Huge Unidentified Organic Blob Floating Around Alaska

Z80xxc! writes "The Anchorage Daily News reports that a 15 mile-long blob of unknown, 'gooey,' probably organic material is floating past communities on Alaska's North Slope. The US Coast Guard sent pollution experts to investigate, who determined that it was not an oil spill or other type of pollution, but were unable to determine what it is. A sample is currently being analyzed by experts in Anchorage, while the blob is following the current northwards."

5 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. Algal Bloom by ZackSchil · · Score: 4, Informative

    It looks like a bunch of seaweed and an algal bloom.

  2. Re:Do algal blooms eat geese???? by ZackSchil · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, but they sometimes kill geese with the toxins they emit. And organisms not affected by the toxins would probably enjoy eating a dead goose.

  3. Re:Creepshow 2, anyone? by Migraineman · · Score: 4, Informative

    The young-uhns don't appear to know what you're talking about.

  4. Re:Looks like whale blood to me by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 3, Informative

    Then again, I'm in Philadelphia and have no idea what whale blood looks like

    Now you know.

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  5. I don't remember this exactly, but ... by J.R.BOFH · · Score: 5, Informative

    Around 10-15 years ago, the same thing happened off the Icelandic Westfjords, which is the north-west part of Iceland. At first, it was believed to be a spill of the waste matter from fish oil production, but then scientists determined it was caused by a mass death of some species of plankton, which are really small, almost microscopic crustaceans or similar. This particular species was quite oily and died off en masse because of increased sea temperatures or some such.
    As I said, I can't remember any useful details, but that's more or less what happened back then, sometime near the end of last century off the coast of North-West Iceland.

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