‘Mysterious mass’ found on North Carolina coast identified. What is the baffling blob?

A gelatinous mass of finger-like growths found washed up on the North Carolina coast baffled state wildlife experts, but the blob has finally been identified.

After trying for several months to identify the blob, Cape Lookout National Seashore turned to the public for help, posting a photo to Facebook this week, asking “Do you know what this mysterious mass is?”

Many weighed in, with answers ranging from “pairs of gloves something laid eggs in,” to fungi, to body snatching aliens, to squid egg sacs. The latter group was right on the money, according to Cape Lookout.

“As many of you suspected, it is an egg mass of a squid, or actually the eggs of many squids as they lay their eggs together to create the mass,” an updated post said.

Specifically, squids belonging to the family Loliginidae, which all lay egg masses of similar shape. It could be any one of three such squid species of the family that live near the North Carolina coast.

Squid egg masses come in different sizes and patterns depending on the species, including orbs, tubes, and strings. They are rarely seen, as squids lay them in deep water, and they gradually sink even deeper — to around 500 feet below the surface — where the eggs will typically hatch.

This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 1:59 PM with the headline "‘Mysterious mass’ found on North Carolina coast identified. What is the baffling blob?."