Help please... What is this? (Fungus, Separation...?)
Optics and Lenses -This forum is aimed towards the TECHNICAL side of photographic OPTICS and LENSES. There will be some overlap by camera/manufacturer, but this forum is for the heavy duty tech discussions. This is NOT the place to discuss a specific lens or lens line, do that in the appropriate forum. This is the forum to discuss optics or lenses in general, to learn about the tech behind the lenses and images. IF you have a question about a specific lens, post it in the forum about that type of camera, NOT HERE.
Could be the results of past condensation in a dirty lens, or even remains of the helicoid grease and ground down metal from the same. You'll know more once you get to it - which you can't avoid short of dumping the entire lens...
This should be totally cleanable. That looks like a Minolta Rokkor 58mm. Remove rear mount, unscrew the rear cell. This sort of spots is almost always between the cells. You should be able to carefully clean it and make it look like new again.