Final conclusion on Alaskan orange goo

Since I've posted a couple of things about the strange orange goo that washed up in an Alaskan village, I should finish things up by posting on its final identification.

It was fungal spores.

Must have been a lot of 'em, but that's what the scientists say. Probably not harmful. The other side of my brain wonders if this is some weird manifestation of Arctic climate change, but there is no way to know.

Orange goo at Alaskan village was fungal spores

Further tests with more advanced equipment showed the substance is consistent with spores from fungi that create rust, which accounts for the color, 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.

Rust as in a plant disease, not the red stuff that forms on metal. Authorities were cautious that it wasn't dangerous, but they wouldn't drink the stuff, either.