- Marine researchers found a mysterious golden orb deep on the Alaskan seafloor.
- The team joked it was like something out of a horror movie because it's so puzzling.
Earth's oceans are vast and mysterious, and scientists have yet to describe roughly 91% of its species. It's not entirely surprising, then, that deep-sea explorers just found something entirely new during an Alaskan expedition.
But this particular object, what looks like the remains of some type of golden orb or egg, surprised scientists. "I don't know what to make of that," said a researcher during a $4 of the expedition.
The mysterious object that resembles a reject from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory was discovered on August 30 as part of the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition that's using a remotely operated vehicle to map to currently map the Alaska seafloor. The team that found it is with the $4
Usually, researchers can at least guess how an unknown specimen fits in with other species just by looking at it, Sam Candio, the expedition's coordinator, told Insider via email.
But the orb completely puzzled them. "With this sample, we need that further lab analysis to even begin placing it into any kind of biological group," he said.
An egg casing, a sponge, or something more strange
Using a remotely-operated vehicle 2 miles under the ocean, the researchers were cruising around the Kodiak–Bowie Seamount chain of extinct volcanoes when they saw the orb, Candio said. "Essentially we stumbled across it," he said.
"This is a depth zone with very little data about the species that inhabit it, particularly in the Gulf of Alaska, so we were hopeful that we would find something interesting and new," Candio said.
Team members $4 that the orb looked like something out of a horror movie. The orb could be an egg case or sponge, but Candio isn't ruling out "something more strange."
The remote vehicle comes with a vacuum-like device that its robotic arm used to suction up the squishy egg, which has a skin-like tissue.
"To the touch, it is flimsy on the edges and incredibly delicate and flaky," said Candio. "The center is a concave dome shape and firmer than the edges."
Researchers will need to perform tests — including DNA, dissection, and microscopy, Candio said — before they can determine what species the fleshy orb belongs to.
"The more information we got through visual analysis and sampling of the orb, the less we felt we knew about it, which is exciting!" he said.
Moving around the seafloor as deep as 3.7 miles below the surface, the vehicle has come across something unique or unexpected on every dive, Candio said.
"The diversity and wonder of the waters surrounding Alaska has been nothing short of breathtaking," he added.
You can watch the $4 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET through September 15 to see other interesting marine life, from carnivorous sponges to octopuses guarding their eggs.