Disgusting mystery

Strange white “blobs” scare Newfoundlanders

It looks disgusting - and the whole of Newfoundland is puzzling over what it is ...

(Bild: Facebook/Philip Grace)

A mysterious, gelatinous substance has been appearing on the beaches of the Canadian province of Newfoundland since the beginning of September, baffling locals and researchers alike. The strange white "blobs" that have washed up along the coast of Placentia Bay have already triggered an investigation by the Canadian authorities.

Philip Grace was among the first to share a mysterious photo on the Facebook page Beachcombers of Newfoundland and Labrador in September.

It showed a lumpy, gelatinous slime spread across the shingle beach of Ship Harbour, a coastal community in southern Newfoundland. "Does anyone know what these strange blobs are?" he asked curiously. "They remind me of touton dough and they're all over the beach." To explain: toutons are deep-fried dough patties and a popular traditional breakfast dish in Newfoundland.

Smell reminiscent of vegetable oil
Other residents of the region have also found these disgusting-looking lumps of slime, describing them as doughy and with a subtle odor reminiscent of vegetable oil. 

Stan Tobin, an environmentalist from Ship Cove, told the BBC that the substance looked like someone had tried to bake bread "and done a bad job of it". He had discovered "hundreds and hundreds of the blobs - big and small", Tobin reported.

Photos of the "blobs", as they were christened and posted on social media, led to all kinds of speculation, including that they could be fungi, mold, palm oil or even ambergris - a rare substance from the digestive tract of whales that is used in the perfume industry, but is said to stink terribly when fresh and is therefore unlikely to be an option.

"Certain that it has no place here"
Despite extensive theories, the origin of the substance remains unclear. However, Canadian authorities are working to shed light on the matter. According to a spokesperson from Environment and Climate Change Canada, the substance is neither petroleum hydrocarbons, petroleum lubricants, biofuels nor biodiesel. A marine ecologist from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans also ruled out the possibility that it was biological material or marine sponges.

Although the Canadian Coast Guard has investigated previous leads, the exact origin of the strange substance remains unclear. "Something or someone knows where it came from," Tobin suspects, according to the BBC, "and it's quite certain that it has no business being here."

Authorities are continuing their investigation as residents in the area continue to search for answers. The incident raises questions about possible environmental influences - but until clarified, the phenomenon of the "blobs" remains a mystery on the coast of Newfoundland.