What in the world?
A
mysterious gelatinous ball has puzzled and fascinated researchers
after undersea photographer Rudolf Svensen spotted it while diving
at the mouth of the Matre fjord in Hordaland, western Norway.
This
photograph sparked intense curiosity
and fascination amongst Norwegian scientists.
PHOTO: RUDOLF SVENSEN / UWPHOTO
On Oct. 1 Rudolf and
his brother Erling were diving when he spotted the unusual object.
"It was 50-70 centimeters (19.5-27.5
inches) in diameter and looked like a huge beach ball. It was
transparent but had a kind of thick, red cord in the middle. It was
a bit science-fiction," Svensen told newspaper Bergens Tidende's web
site.
The Svensens contacted associate
professor Torleiv Brattegard at the University of Bergen, and other
experts were notified to try and solve the mystery.
Brattegard was convinced the object
was organic, and possibly a species unknown to Norway.
"It might be an animal, the remains
of algae, something which has been alive, or a mysterious
accumulation of microorganisms," were some of Brattegard's initial
theories.
On Friday Brattegard told NRK (Norwegian
Broadcasting) that the mystery may have been solved.
Colleague Arne Fjellheim, who works
with Stavanger Museum, tipped off Brattegard that the organism
resembled a photograph from New Zealand that he had seen. A zoology
professor and squid expert in New Zealand corroborated by email -
the peculiar gelatinous ball was a large squid egg sack.
"The gelatinous lump contains several
fertilized eggs. This is not at all a common sight, because squids
are some of the most inaccessible animals known," Fjellheim told
iBergen.no.
Fjellheim told Aftenposten.no that squid
are found in such numbers along the Norwegian coast that they are a
commercial catch, and used mostly as bait. Despite this, extremely
little is known about their biology.
