Newfoundland ‘blobster’ expert eyeing weird beach goo [Video]

A Newfoundland scientist known for identifying a gelatinous, rancid mass that washed up on the island’s shores decades ago is hoping to get his hands on a slice of the strange white globs appearing on the province’s beaches.

Steven Carr, a biology professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L., says the mysterious blobs may be fat or oil that has somehow been preserved by the North Atlantic’s icy brine — a process he calls “adventitious pickling.”

Philip Grace first shared a picture of the slimy masses last month in a Facebook group of local beachcombers, asking if anyone knew what they were.

Grace wrote that he had found them on the beach along Placentia Bay and some were as big as dinner plates.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says neither the “mystery substance” nor its source has been identified yet, but preliminary tests suggest it may be “plant-based.”

Carr …