Weird White Blobs Are Taking Over Some Canadian Beaches

There’s a long history of weird things washing up on shores worldwide, from a bag of severed human hands in Russia to LEGO bricks in the UK. Now, Canadians are finding strange white blobs across their beaches—and scientists don’t know what to make of them.

The mysterious chunks began showing up on the shores of Newfoundland in eastern Canada. According to CBS, beachgoers started reporting the substance in early September. 

Canadian officials have launched an investigation into the strange situation. They have determined that the white blobs are “plant-based,” but nothing else is known about them as of this writing. Although government officials have surveyed the material numerous times, Environment and Climate Change Canada told the BBC that more research needs to be done to determine what they’re dealing with.

Several residents have taken to social media to try to find answers. A man named Philip Grace shared some pictures of the white substance in a Facebook group with over 40,000 members who traverse Newfoundland’s shores. Grace posted that the blobs range in size from “dinner plate right down to a toonie [a two-dollar coin in Canada]” and looked like a touton, a fried regional pancake. Another Canadian, Dave McGrath, took the liberty of poking two white blobs with a stick, saying they were “spongy and firm inside.” 

Others have speculated the substance could be whale sperm, sea sponges, ship discharge, and paraffin wax (a soft and solid wax). Some also believed the white blobs could be ambergris, which comes from sperm whales. But federal scientists have ruled out these guesses. To get any solid answers, researchers must perform a series of tests on the white blobs, which may take months to complete and analyze.

The good news is that at least we know the beaches aren’t covered in whale sperm.

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