Hundreds of balls on the Baltic beaches. They are small and green

At the end of last year, residents of the northern regions of Europe fought against blue balls that were washed ashore by the waves. This time, a similar phenomenon was observed in Denmark – however, the balls are green and have a completely different origin, although they intrigue the inhabitants just as much. They were first spotted on the beach on Sunday, January 28.

Green balls on the beach in Nordfalster

According to Danish media, the first walkers came across a sea of ​​balls on Sunday, January 28, on Orehoved beach in Nordfalster, located in the south-east of Denmark. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. There were green balls everywhere. It was a slightly different Sunday trip,” one of the men told TV2. Some tourists at first thought that the balls were actually stones covered with moss. However, by pressing them, you could easily squeeze the water out of them.

Balls made of seaweed

The mysterious balls turned out to be products of nature. Made of seaweed, the balls smelling of the sea are not dangerous to humans. They are made from Chaetomorpha linum algae, which occur naturally in Europe and North America. This plant grows from the seabed, but thanks to the action of waves and winds it can be rolled into balls, which are then carried to the shore, creating a real field of seaweed on the beach. According to Danish biologist Finn Andersen, their appearance in this form is related to the high nitrogen content in the water. This most often ends up in water bodies due to fertilizer residues that are washed out from nearby farmlands. The growth of algae increases the likelihood of the formation of algae balls – a phenomenon that has already occurred on Danish beaches in the past. “I was in Sonderho 2 years ago and the beaches were also filled with them. I took the full bag home and used them as decorations in my jars,” wrote one Internet user.