Can You Help Identify this Mystery Object?

Light weight, white, calcified object with oil

Light weight, white, calcified, 5-inch object with oil, what is it? Photographed July 11, 2010.

What is this? My brother, Joe, and I have been seeing more and more of this on west Dauphin Island (see photo on left). Is it natural or artificial? This piece is five inches wide but others pieces are over a foot long and wide. Is it coral? What do you think it is?

Below are other pictures of oil on west Dauphin Island today. Just click pictures to get a larger, clearer view.

Lots of dead sargarsum and oil on the beach

Lots of dead sargarsum and oil on the beach, photographed July 11, 2010

Oil in the Dauphin Island grassy areas

Oil in the Dauphin Island grassy areas, photographed July 11, 2010

Plastic oil mop that found its way to a Dauphin Island tidal pool

A plastic oil mop in a Dauphin Island tidal pool, photographed July 11, 2010

More oil in Dauphin Island tidal pool

More oil in Dauphin Island tidal pool, photographed July 11, 2010

Trash with oil on the beach too

Trash with oil on the beach too, photographed July 11, 2010

More oil on the grassy beaches

More oil on the grassy beaches, photographed July 11, 2010

More oil in Dauphin Island tidal pool

More oil in Dauphin Island tidal pool, photographed July 11, 2010

2 thoughts on “Can You Help Identify this Mystery Object?

  1. Thanks Dawn, coquina is a good idea. Some of the coquina pictures definitely look similar. Calcite and coral are other reasonable ideas. I brought and left the piece in the picture with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The white stuff is fairly hard but also light weight. The dark spots are like circular indentations. Some of the dark spots have brownish oil in them. The object could be something artificial too.

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