orange stuff was fungal spores scientists had never seen before

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


A mysterious orange goo that collected on shorelines in an Alaska village is made up of fungal spores, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday. The new analysis corrected an announcement made last week by Alaska-based NOAA scientists who had initially concluded the material was a conglomeration of microscopic eggs or embryos deposited by some form of crustacean. Scientists from NOAA's Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, based in Charleston, South Carolina, did a follow-up examination on a sample sent from Alaska and determined the material was fungal, not the product of crustaceans, the agency said. The material is consistent with spores from fungi that cause "rust," a disease that infects plants by causing a rust-like color on them, NOAA said. "The spores are unlike others we and our network of specialists have examined; however, many rust fungi of the Arctic tundra have yet to be identified," Steve
Morton, a scientist with the NOAA Charleston lab, said in a statement. The gooey material first appeared early this month in the water and on coastlines of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo village of 400 on the Chukchi Sea coast. Residents initially feared the material might be pollution from the nearby Red Dog Mine, the world's largest zinc producer. But early tests showed it was a biological material, not mining waste or a petroleum product. The sticky orange material, which dried into a powder, has washed away from Kivalina, said Julie Speegle, a spokeswoman for NOAA's National Fisheries Service in Alaska. Speegle said the material was likely harmless. "Rust is a disease that only affects plants, so there's no cause for alarm," she said, adding that details about its origins remained a mystery. "There just has not been a lot of research done on rust fungi in the Arctic. This is one that we've never encountered before that we know of," she said.

and second report:

An orange-coloured goo that streaked the shore of a remote Alaska village turned out to be fungal spores, not millions of microscopic eggs as indicated by preliminary analysis, scientists said Thursday. Further tests with more advanced equipment showed the substance is consistent with spores from fungi that create rust, which accounts for the colour, said officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The gunk appeared Aug. 3 at the edge of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community at the tip of a barrier reef on Alaska’s northwest coast. It quickly dissipated from the village lagoon and the Wulik River. But many of Kivalina’s 374 residents worried about the long-term effect on the water quality — and some wildlife, fish and plants they use for food. There was a report of dead minnows found in the lagoon the night the substance appeared. City administrator Janet Mitchell said those fears will only intensify with the latest analysis, which did not
include toxicity tests. “We are going have more concern from the public,” she said. “If I’m concerned, then there will be others with concerns.” Rust fungus is a plant disease that creates a yellowish-orange or brown discoloration on leaves and stems before eventually growing spores that spread the infection. Scientists have not determined whether this spore is among the 7,800 known species of rust fungi or some kind of unknown Arctic species. A team at the lab found the spores to be unlike any they’ve examined, but Steven Morton, a scientist at the administration lab where the tests were conducted, said many rust fungi in the Arctic have yet to be identified. Morton said determining toxicity is beyond his area of expertise, but he “would definitely filter these spores out” of water sources.
--------------------------