Parents, Hide Your Children — This Blob Has Absolutely No Socially Redeeming Value Whatsoever

You can thank our lack of Long Island Sound lobster to the sealife-devouring sea squirt, known simply as a “blob”:

A blob-like creature is invading Long Island Sound and posing a threat to its lobsters and other shellfish, University of Connecticut scientists say.

The researchers say they have found colonies of invasive sea squirts, blob-shaped animals that reproduce easily, on the floor of the Sound.

The scientists believe this variety of sea squirt, known as didemnum, arrived on the hulls of ships from Asia. They have no known predators.

“This thing has the potential for causing significant economic impact when it attaches to the floor of the Sound, where it blankets and suffocates shellfish and lobsters,” said Ivar Babb, director of the university’s Undersea Research Center at Avery Point in Groton.

The animals range in color from a creamy translucent pearl to olive or tan. In Japan, there are some red species.

“This thing is ugly,” Babb said. “It has no socially redeeming virtues.”