That shiny "alien egg" pulled from the seafloor in 2023? Turns out it's the leftovers of a very big anemone. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists say they have finally pinned down the identity of the metallic-looking "golden orb" that a remote submersible spotted more than two miles down in the Gulf of Alaska—a find that initially baffled researchers who assumed routine tests would quickly explain it.
- "This turned into a special case that required focused efforts and expertise of several different individuals," says Allen Collins, director of NOAA Fisheries' National Systematics Laboratory. "This was a complex mystery that required morphological, genetic, deep-sea, and bioinformatics expertise to solve."
Lab work showed the orb wasn't an intact animal, but a fibrous structure sheathed in stinging cells known as spirocysts, used to snare prey and found only in cnidarians, a phylum of marine invertebrates that includes jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones. Genome sequencing linked it to Relicanthus daphneae, a giant deep-sea anemone whose body can span about three feet with tentacles stretching some six feet, CBS News reports. The "golden orb," NOAA now says, was once part of the anemone's base—normally hidden under the animal and somehow left behind. What became of the rest of it remains unknown.
"So often in deep ocean exploration, we find these captivating mysteries, like the 'golden orb'. With advanced techniques like DNA sequencing, we are able to solve more and more of them," says William Mowitt, acting director of NOAA Ocean Exploration. "This is why we keep exploring—to unlock the secrets of the deep and better understand how the ocean and its resources can drive economic growth, strengthen our national security, and sustain our planet."
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