NOAA researchers discovered a mysterious shiny orb resembling an golden egg on the seabed off the coast of Alaska. Pic credit: NOAA via Guardian News/YouTube
Researchers exploring the ocean floor off the coast of southern Alaska discovered a mysterious shiny orb resembling a golden egg.
An NOAA Ocean Exploration team announced the strange discovery in the “deep abyssal depths of the Gulf of Alaska” on Wednesday, August 30.
The team stumbled on the object on the ocean floor off the coast of Alaska while exploring the seabed with a remotely operated deep-sea diving vehicle at a depth of about 2 miles.
The team is working on unraveling the mystery of the orb.
Researchers encounter mystery golden orb on seabed
They recorded a video showing the moment they encountered the golden orb lying on the ocean floor (see video below).
Viewers can hear the researcher operating the arms of the deep sea vehicle talking about the strange discovery. The team seemed puzzled. They didn’t know what to make of the strange golden object.
“It’s like the beginning of a horror movie,” a team member said.
“Pretty sure this how the first episode of the X-Files started,” his colleague said with a laugh.
“I just hope when we poke it, something doesn’t decide to come out,” the first team member responded.
NOAA team stumped by mystery golden egg
“I don’t know what to make of that,” a team member said as the camera focused on the strange object on the seabed.
They zoomed in on the golden orb to get a closer look.
“I don’t know what this is,” his colleague added. “I’m not sure.”
“It seems spongy,” another observed. “But now I am seeing a potential egg case.”
The team concluded it was of biological origin and was possibly an egg laid by an unknown marine species.
The team retrieved the golden orb for lab analysis
“Let’s give it a little tickle,” a team member suggested.
The operator prodded the orb gently with a remotely operated arm and concluded that it was soft tissue.
“Soft dermal layer,” a member of the team said.
“It will just fall apart if I try to grab it,” the operator answered.
“It seems pretty delicate,” the operator’s colleague agreed.
So they decided to collect the specimen by using suction to draw it up a tube for lab analysis.
The specimen is reportedly undergoing analysis to determine its nature.
NOAA experts speculated about the golden orb
The researchers admitted they weren’t sure what the golden orb was but agreed that it was likely of biological origin. The suggestions they offered included an egg or a marine sponge.
Regarding the suggestion that it was an egg, the researchers speculated on the type of marine animal that produced it. They also wondered whether it could be the egg of a known or unknown species or a stage in the life cycle of a known species.
Dive exploration was part of the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition
The dive was part of the Seascape Alaska 5 exploration conducted to explore and record videos of previously unexplored ocean to a depth of 4 miles.
You may watch a live feed of the ongoing exploration here.
The first dive was on August 24 and will continue until September 15.
Experts plan to conduct extensive explorations of the Gulf of Alaska seafloor during the expedition.