There’s a mysterious black goo floating off the Alaskan coast, and no one is quite sure what it is. A helicopter flying over the area spotted a strand of the dark stuff, which is easily visible on the bright white ice floating in the Arctic Ocean, and followed it for 15 miles.
Juneau Empire reports:
“[The goo is] certainly biological,” [Terry] Hasenauer [of the Coast Guard] said. “It’s definitely not an oil product of any kind. It has no characteristics of an oil, or a hazardous substance, for that matter…. It’s definitely, by the smell and the makeup of it, some sort of naturally occurring organic or otherwise marine organism.”
“It’s pitch black when it hits ice and it kind of discolors the ice and hangs off of it,” [an official with the North Slope Borough's Planning and Community Services Department] said. He saw some jellyfish tangled up in the stuff, and someone turned in what was left of a dead goose – just bones and feathers – to the borough’s wildlife department.”
Anyone wanna go for a swim?
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Image: Courtesy of the North Slope Borough Planning Department
July 16th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I knew that global warming would be a problem. The Blob has thawed out!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blob
July 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Its the crap they found in the NC sewers. That or aids.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Hmmm.. predatorial algae, like in the book Pi, comes to mind when you describe what was left of the dead goose…
July 16th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
[...] 8:04 pm on July 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply Unidentified organic black goo floating in the Arctic? This is preliminary marketing for a revival of the X-Files franchise, isn’t it? [...]
July 16th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
It could be the aquatic version of those killer mites from the book Dust.
July 16th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
could be the sh*t that turned eddie brock into venom.
July 16th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Its transformer poo!!!
July 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Did anyone else read the book Phantoms by Dean Koontz? Maybe it’s excrement from the creature in the book!
July 16th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I, for one, welcome our squishy black overlords! I mean, they killed a goose. What more proof of good intentions do we need. Now, if they could just come to my town and take care of the one particularly aggressive goose at the lake, that would be awesome.
July 16th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
If this is the best discussion you people can muster I have found a place where stupidity is classy. You people make me sick.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Pish! All they need to research this is to Goo-gle it!
July 16th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
And your comment made me smarter just by reading it, O High and Mighty D. Oh wait, no, it didn’t.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:24 am
A possible mutation of didymo (Didymosphenia geminata) that is tolerant of the salinity of arctic sea ice?
July 17th, 2009 at 2:50 am
its squid/alien ink from lord Cthulhu who has risen again from the depths.
Phnglui mglwnafh Cthulhu Rlyeh wgahnagl Ftagn!
All Hail Lord Cthulhu !
July 17th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Careful who you call skwishy! It could be my long lost cousin Blacky.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:52 am
New life forms are being discovered every year, and as the climate warms in the polar caps it only stands to reason that possibly dormant microscopic life forms will bloom. If you are working on your science fair project then consider evaluating the changes that have and will occur as the arctic temperatures warm.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
It’s marine Vashta Nerada oh noes!
July 17th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
It’s the stuff from Spider-Man 3!
July 18th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Muted seaweed after the oil ramp from Exxon in 1989
July 18th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
•Chila-Chamina •Choncha •Chämas •Ekfebet •Kessetoun
July 18th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Relax guys its Chuck Norris’ doodoo high in protein.
July 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
All hair lord cthulu , father dagon, mother hydra. In the depths r….. where we will dwell admist wonder and glory forever!!!
July 19th, 2009 at 10:16 am
well…what ever this “stuff” is we need to put more reeasearch into it. it doesnt look to be related to the exxon ramp. either that or chewbacca is losing all his hair… still i want to know what this shuff is
July 19th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I agree the blob is back!!!
July 19th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
hey guys, it was algae..comes from your shit—
July 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Oh NO it is some of that Goo that ALGore uses in his hair!!!!! He is an Alien! Or it could just be Whale Poo!
July 19th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
” xmm Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Its the crap they found in the NC sewers. That or aids”
Your an Idiot
July 20th, 2009 at 1:22 am
doesn’t anybody really see/read the news??? it has been identified as an algal bloom. algae need a certain temperature to grow and breed. it is not uncommon to find algal blooms in arctic waters. its the size of the bloom which is a matter of serious concern. under normal conditions, the low arctic temperatures are sufficient to curb excessive growth of these algae. global warming raises temperatures which are conducive for promoting algal growth to such an extent. so, people, wake up!
July 20th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
[...] few days ago, we wrote about a mysterious black blob floating off of Alaska’s coast. At that point, experts hadn’t been able to identify [...]
July 20th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
its just an algie dont worry they can take care of it
July 29th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Black Goo is an up coming rapper– Watch out for him