Nature
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In northern Norway, heaps and heaps of purple gloop have been found along the country's usually scenic fjords.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The slime has been freaking out sailors in the Lyngen Fjord since late August and until now has remained a total mystery. The slime has a deep purple-pink color, is said to be “margarine-like” in texture and reportedly covers millions of cubic meters of water.
Over the past month, scientists have descended on the mysterious slop to try and discover what it is. The current consensus is jellyfish – lots of jellyfish.
The Local News reported that Tone Falkenhaug and Jan Helge Fosså, from Norway’s Institute of Marine Research (IMR), believe the slime is the product of a gigantic bloom of cigar comb jellies that then partially disintegrated.
“It’s probably dead or partially dead jellyfish, and we think it's the kind of jellyfish... called Ctenophora beroe,” Falkenhaug told the local news site. “We can’t explain why it is like this, but it's not uncommon that jellyfish appear in very dense aggregations like this, especially deep in the fjord.”
Roger B. Larsen from the Arctic University of Norway has also gone to the area and taken samples of the Ghostbusters-esque slime.
“I have some samples of the red-pink slime, and it will hopefully be analyzed at the end of the month,” he told Earth Touch News.
"I've done annual cruises with my students here in the past, and have never seen anything like this," he added. "It is obvious that there is something going on which wildlife [is] unable to cope with."
Image credit: Roger B. Larsen
