The blob was the name given to a large black algal bloom that was first spotted floating in the Chukchi Sea[1] between the Alaskan cities of Wainwright and Utqiaġvik in July 2009.
[2] The mass was initially discovered by a civilian boat from Wainwright and reported to the U.S. Coast Guard due to concerns that it could have been an oil spill.
[3] The Chukchi Sea, where the mass was found, is a shallow part of the Arctic Ocean between western Alaska and the northeastern coasts of Russia.
[6] Though toxicity tests on the organism have yet to be conducted, concern is minimal as the area is not a host to commercial seafood production, though locals do fish and hunt there.
Terry Whitledge, director of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, postulated that it could be due to the algae having undergone some level of decomposition.