Mysterious black goo in Alaska

A mysterious black goo has appeared in the waters of northern Alaska. No one knows exactly what it is, but it is biological. The skeletons of birds have been found inside.

From the Anchorage Daily News via io9:

It's certainly biological. It's definitely not an oil product of any kind. It has no characteristics of an oil, or a hazardous substance, for that matter. It's definitely, by the smell and the makeup of it, it's some sort of naturally occurring organic or otherwise marine organism. in recent history I don't think we've seen anything like this. Maybe inside lakes or in stagnant water or something, but not (in the ocean) that we could recall ... If it was something we'd seen before, we'd be able to say something about it. But we haven't. [The stuff is] gooey [and dark]. It's pitch black when it hits ice and it kind of discolors the ice and hangs off of it. It kind of has an odor; I can't describe it.

Weird, wild stuff.

Is that a period joke?