Giant blobs of thick, oily biological material are floating in the Arctic Ocean's Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait, reports the Anchorage Daily News.
"It's certainly biological," Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Terry Hasenauer told the newspaper. "It's definitely not an oil product of any kind. It has no characteristics of an oil, or a hazardous substance, for that matter."
No one in the North Slope towns of Barrow and Wainwright can recall ever seeing anything like it.
Jellyfish and sea birds are getting caught up in the sticky, stinky stuff, which according to one official "has hairy strands on it."
"It's definitely, by the smell and the makeup of it, it's some sort of naturally occurring organic or otherwise marine organism," added Hasenauer.
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