Mysterious golden orb discovered three kilometers below the ocean’s surface isn’t an alien, it’s an anemone
This enigmatic orb has undergone extensive examination and DNA testing, allowing scientists to reveal its true origins.
By Adam Kovac edited by Claire Cameron
NOAA Fisheries
In August 2023, scientists discovered something completely bizarre in the deep ocean off the coast of Alaska: a golden orb. The thing looked like something out of a science fiction movie, but now scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Smithsonian Institution can reveal that it’s not actually an alien. It’s a anemoneor more precisely, the remains of one.
The strange object was found during a NOAA ship expedition Okeanos Explorer. The crew was using remote-controlled submersibles to explore a seamount in the Gulf of Alaska, more than two miles below the surface, when suddenly the orb appeared on the video feed. Stuck on a rock amid more pedestrian-like sponges, one of the researchers said he seemed to have found something that looked like a “yellow hat.”
Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was dome-shaped and measured about four inches in diameter and had a small tear near its base. The object was so strange that scientists had no idea what it was beyond the observation that it at least appeared to be biological in origin. Assumptions about its nature have grown from a strange egg shell to evidence of a completely unknown stage of life. To find out, researchers recovered the orb and sent it to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History for further study.
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“This developed into a special case that required focused efforts and the expertise of several different people,” Allen Collins, director of NOAA’s National Fisheries Systematics Laboratory, said in a report. statement. “This was a complex mystery that required morphological, genetic, deep-sea and bioinformatics expertise to solve. »
Efforts to determine the object’s identity included genetic analysis and a close examination of its physical attributes. Another similar sample collected in 2021 was also studied for comparison. Scientists found that both were composed of fibrous material containing numerous stinging cells called spirocysts, which belong exclusively to the branch of aquatic invertebrates called cnidarians.
Whole genome sequencing revealed that the orb shared a lot of genetic material with the deep sea. anemones. Sequencing of its mitochondrial genome and that of the other specimen revealed that they were almost identical to a species of anemone called Relicanthus daphne.
Deepwater exploration of the Marianas, NOAA Ocean Exploration
This species was discovered in the 1970s but was not officially classified until 2006. R. daphnea Anemones live on the ocean floor, usually near thermal vents, and have pinkish or pale purple tentacles that extend up to seven feet.
“Very often in deep ocean exploration we find captivating mysteries, like the ‘golden orb,’” William Mowitt, acting director of NOAA Ocean Exploration, said in the same release. “Using advanced techniques like DNA sequencing, we are able to solve a growing number of them. That’s why we continue to explore: 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 support our planet.”
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