Mysterious white blobs have been washing up on beaches across Newfoundland for over a month, sparking an investigation by Canadian authorities.
While beachcombers of the large land mass are used to spotting flotsam from the Atlantic, they, along with Canadian government scientists, have been baffled by the sudden appearance of the lumps of white material, often found covered in seaweed, sand and pebbles.
The blobs, which began appearing on at least September 7, were described as smelling like vegetable oil and looking ‘like someone tried to bake bread and done a lousy job’, according to local resident Stan Tobin.
Another Newfoundlander, Philip Grace, said they looked like ‘touton’ dough, referring to a local version of fried biscuits.
The Mail and Globe reported that they were ‘strangely combustible with a pocked slimy surface and firm spongy flesh’, adding that they ‘ranged in size from a toonie [two-dollar coin] to dinner plates.’
Countless amateur sleuths, wannabe scientists and concerned citizens have put forward their own theories about where the blobs came from.
The blobs, which began appearing on at least September 7, were described as smelling like vegetable oil and looking ‘like someone tried to bake bread and done a lousy job’
Samantha Bayard, a spokesperson from Environment and Climate Change Canada, raised the possibility of criminal involvement in the blobs: ‘If enforcement officers find evidence of a possible violation of federal environmental legislation, they will take appropriate action in accordance with the applicable compliance and enforcement policy.’
Some said they were fungus or mould, others believed they were made from palm oil, paraffin wax or even ambergris – a rare and valuable substance produced by whales and used in the perfume industry.
Their guesses were as good as government scientists, who have been investigating since they were first made aware of them on September 7.
One scientists for Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans told the Globe and Mail: ‘We are fairly certain that the mystery substance that has been getting media attention is not a sea sponge, nor does it have any biological material.
‘The glob or the goo or whatever it is, we don’t think it’s a sponge because there have been people lighting it on fire and it burns.
‘We figure there must be some type of oil in there.’
Currently, all scientists can confirm for the moment is that the blobs are not made from any form of petroleum hydrocarbon, petroleum lubricant, biofuel or biodiesel.
But more tests are in the pipeline, and could take up to a month to complete.
Nadine Wells, section head of the marine ecological research group at DFO’s Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre in St. John’s said: ‘We’re trying to do our best to do our work and get the answer. Until that point it’s hard for us to say exactly what it is.
‘It’s really mysterious – something we’ve never seen before, and we have no idea what it is.’
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