Stinky globs on beaches likely potato sponges

VIRGINIA BEACH

You'll want to pass on these potatoes.

Those stinky, mysterious globs that have washed ashore on the beaches of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and elsewhere in Hampton Roads are most likely potato sponges.

These sponges make their home in the shallow waters along the East Coast and in the Chesapeake Bay, but they are now decaying on local beaches and releasing that rotten-egg stench, said Mark Patterson, a biologist with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who has published articles on sponge biology.

"It's not whale poop, or people poop," said Patterson, who sliced into one of the leftover lumps on Monday and recognized the porous interior of a sponge. They're called potato sponges because they resemble the humble tuber.

Hurricane Irene appears to be the culprit in the "mass mortality" of these underwater creatures, Patterson said.

Scientists, however, aren't sure how Irene killed the sponges.

The hurricane may have churned up more sediment and clogged up the sponges, introduced too much fresh water into the marine environment or simply ripped the creatures from the bottom of the Bay. They were dead by the time they reached the beaches, Patterson said.

"Sponges are delicate in a sense; a hurricane can do a major upset," he said.

Sightings of these grayish, brown clumps along the area's beaches over the weekend caused alarm and curiosity. Some beachgoers speculated that it may have been human waste.

"This is not fecal material," said Erin Sutton, an environmental health manager for the Virginia Beach Health Department, which tested the waters. Sutton said local health officials were awaiting lab results but suspected that these offending blobs are sponges.

That's a relief, said Jessica Winters, a bayfront resident.

Winters had scooped up several smelly chunks and stored them in a cooler, because health officials weren't able to collect a sample the last time the mystery material appeared on the beach in July.

"I think I'll toss my blobs now," Winters wrote in an email. "Probably down at the beach so my neighbors don't suffer from the 'aroma' in my trash!"

Virginia Beach crews will be cleaning up hurricane debris and the beached blobs along the bayfront today, said Drew Lankford, a city public works spokesman.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com