Researchers still don’t know what it is. More often than ever before, what has been described as a kind of ‘jelly blob’, a metre in diameter, has been observed in Norwegian waters, and now also in Sweden.
According to the Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, the phenomenon has been observed twice off the Swedish coast. In Norway,seven were seen in July and August this year.
Research.no, who first drew attention to the case, reported that researchers have found that approximately 15 sightings of the jelly blobs were made made between 2002 and 2017.
‘We are a group of ocean scientists who would like to know what this is,’ said Professor Gro I. van der Meeren at the Marine Research Institute in Bergen.
Several have suggested that they are eggs from a giant octopus, but that theory can’t be confirmed with certainty, as the researchers haven’t yet taken a tissue test.
‘If anyone can help us to take a tissue sample, we can figure it out,’ said Van der Meeren.
The diver Erling Svensen has seen the jelly blobs twice. The first time in 2006, and once again, this summer.
‘When I touched it, it was almost like a balloon, though even more flexible. You could just fan it with your hand and you made it move like a gel-like blob,’ Svensen told NRK news.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
