Scientists have identified a mysterious “golden orb” that was discovered deep in the ocean off the coast of Alaska.
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the object was found in August 2023 in the Gulf of Alaska by a remotely operated deepsea diving vessel.
NOAA researchers say they were initially puzzled by the “golden, mound-shaped object” that was about 10 centimetres in diameter and had “an apparent torn opening on its surface.”
While it’s “not uncommon” to encounter deepsea organisms that are not immediately recognizable, researchers say imagery and expert consultations are usually enough to quickly find answers.
“However sometimes real mysteries exist and imagery alone only raises questions,” the research team explained in a new preprint paper. “Such is the case of the Golden Orb.”
Attached to a rock at a depth of 3,250 metres, the specimen was collected using a suction sampler and then sent to a lab at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where scientists analyzed its “flakey” physical structure and DNA.
After more than two years of investigation, they were finally able to identify the object.
“We work on hundreds of different samples and I suspected that our routine processes would clarify the mystery,” zoologist and NOAA scientist Allen Collins said in a news release. “But this turned into a special case that required focused efforts and expertise of several different individuals. This was a complex mystery that required morphological, genetic, deepsea and bioinformatics expertise to solve.”