Huzzah! The mystery of an unidentified golden object that had been discovered on the ocean floor off Alaska’s Pacific Coast in 2023 has been solved.
While scientists often encounter unfamiliar organisms in the deep sea, those mysteries are usually resolved quickly as experts compare notes and knowledge. But even after a week, researchers couldn’t determine whether the golden orb belonged to a known species, represented a new one or was an unknown life stage of a documented species. The baffling discovery quickly captured the attention of the scientific community and the public.
“Isn’t the deep sea so delightfully strange?” said Sam Candio, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist on the expedition, in a September 2023 statement. “While somewhat humbling to be stumped by this finding, it serves as a reminder of how little we know about our own planet.”
The smooth, metallic-looking blob looked like a treasure the villainous crab from Disney’s Moana would hoard. Was it a dead sponge or an egg case? Something extraterrestrial?
None of the above. This week, NOAA researchers confirmed the golden orb was part of a giant deep-sea anemone.
Here’s what we know.
The roughly 4-inch object was discovered clinging to a rock among white sea sponges
In August 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration, a federal program dedicated to exploring the unknown depths of the ocean, embarked on a three-week voyage in the Gulf of Alaska. More than 2 miles below the surface, the team spotted a shiny, golden orb with a hole, clinging to a rock among white sea sponges.
This unidentified specimen was collected using a suction sampler.
(NOAA Ocean Exploration)
The rock itself was too large to retrieve, so researchers used a suction sampler to carefully collect the golden object.
It was later sent to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History for further research and examination.
Scientists eventually determined that the roughly 4-inch golden object was a remnant of the dead cells that formed at the base of a giant sea anemone known as Relicanthus daphneae. It was the part of the anemone that attaches to rocks.
Researchers with specific expertise had to pool together their knowledge
This unidentified specimen photographed in the wet lab of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.
(NOAA Ocean Exploration)
Ultimately, researchers had to analyze both the orb’s physical structure and its DNA, a process NOAA described as a “complex effort.”
“We work on hundreds of different samples, and I suspected that our routine processes would clarify the mystery,” said Allen Collins, zoologist and director of the NOAA Fisheries’ National Systematics Laboratory. “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.”
Where we go from here
While researchers solved the mystery of the golden orb, Earth’s deep oceans still hold many mysteries, NOAA said.
“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,” said Capt. 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.”
