Huge blob of Arctic goo

The Anchorage Daily News brings word of an strange substance floating in the Chukchi Sea between Wainwright and Barrow:

Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities

IT'S NOT OIL: No one in the area can recall seeing anything like it before.

Hunters from Wainwright first started noticing the stuff sometime probably early last week. It's thick and dark and "gooey" and is drifting for miles in the cold Arctic waters, according to Gordon Brower with the North Slope Borough's Planning and Community Services Department.

Brower and other borough officials, joined by the U.S. Coast Guard, flew out to Wainwright to investigate. The agencies found "globs" of the stuff floating miles offshore Friday and collected samples for testing.

Deckboss is reporting that

lab tests conducted in Anchorage have confirmed the stuff is an algae of some sort.

Further tests are planned to see if it's toxic.