A DNA analysis uncovers that each blob could hold hundreds of thousands of squid eggs. Many years ago, divers touring the western coast of Norway came across an object they couldn't describe: A huge, jelly-like blob, over 3 feet (1 meter) wide, was hovering in place partially between the surface and the seafloor.
The Blobs
A dark streak made a cut through the middle of the orb, but the object was otherwise translucent and doesn't possess any feature. It was, simply in place, a perfectly mysterious blob. Since 1985, almost 100 similar blobs seen by divers have been reported close to Norway and the Mediterranean Sea, but the bizarre gelatinous masses have always avoided classification.
All thanks to a year-long citizen science campaign and a new analysis of DNA, scientists have finally recognized the blobs as the infrequent egg sacs of a common squid known as Illex coindetii.
According to a recent study, released on March 30 in the journal Scientific Report, every blob may hold hundreds of thousands of teensy squid eggs, enclosed in a bubble of gently disintegrating mucus.
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Ommastrephidae
Remarkably, while researchers have gotten knowledge about I. coindetii for over 180 years and have examined the species widely around the Mediterranean and both sides of the Atlantic, this is the first time they have recognized the egg sacs of the squid in the wild, the scientists wrote.
Lead study author Halldis Ringvold, manager of the marine zoology organization Sea Snack Norway, said to Live Science: "We also got to sight what's inside the real sphere, exhibiting squid embryos at four distinct stages. Also, we could follow how the sphere truly alters consistency - from firm and crystal clear to rupturing and blurred - as the embryos grow."
llex coindetii belongs to Ommastrephidae - a common group of squid. Halldis said that females in this group generate large egg spheres or egg masses - made of their own mucus to keep their embryos buoyant and guarded against predators during the time of reproduction. However, beholding these masses is rare, and some species' masses have never been sighted before.
DNA Analysis of the Blob's Tissue
Live Science previously reported that when the sighting of the Norwegian blob became international news many years ago, some scientists had a feeling that the spheres were Ommastrephid egg masses.
But in the absence of a DNA analysis of the blob's tissue, there was no way to show the species of the squid, if any, had produced them. Ringvold and his colleagues then introduced a citizen science campaign that motivates divers to collect small tissue samples of any blobs they run into in the waters close to Norway.
In 2019, divers came through with tissue samples gotten from four different blobs, which they gather in small plastic bottles and preserved in home refrigerators.
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