A mysterious “golden orb” discovered almost three years ago in the Gulf of Alaska has finally been identified. It’s not an egg, a sponge or the remnant of an alien, as some had speculated.
Rather, the orb is believed to be the base of a giant deep-sea cnidarian, Relicanthus daphneae. These aquatic invertebrates are similar to coral or anemones and are found between 1,200 to 4,000 metres.
The orb was discovered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2023 at a depth of more than three kilometres. Researchers found it with a remotely operated vehicle, Deep Discoverer, which was launched from Okeanos Explorer.
Deep sea researchers often find mysterious objects, but it took more time and effort than usual to figure out this species.
“We work on hundreds of different samples and I suspected that our routine processes would clarify the mystery,” said Allen Collins, a zoologist and director of the NOAA Fisheries’ National Systematics Laboratory, in a statement last week. “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, deep-sea and bioinformatics expertise to solve.”
Sequencing the mitochondrial genomes of the golden orb led to the discovery that it was almost identical to the Relicanthus daphneae, an extremely rare species.
The rest of the animal likely died, according to NOAA. This is why the six tentacles or polyps commonly seen in this species were not visible on this orb.
“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,” said Captain William Mowitt, the current acting director of NOAA Ocean Exploration.
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