NOAA Ocean Exploration researchers found a mysterious ‘golden egg’ like object while diving on a seamount in the Gulf of Alaska, the federal organization shared a blog on its official website.
Initially, NOAA referred to the still-unidentified object as a ‘yellow hat’ but now it calls it a ‘golden egg’ or ‘golden orb’.
“Amid a smattering of white sponges, this smooth, gold, dome-shaped specimen, a little over 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter, was tightly adhered to a rock. A small hole or tear near its base revealed a similarly colored interior,” the blog read.
“As cameras zoomed in, scientists were stumped as to its identification, with initial thoughts ranging from a dead sponge attachment, to coral, to an egg casing,” it added.
Sam Candio, an expedition coordinator at NOAA Ocean Exploration said, “Isn’t the deep sea so delightfully strange?”
He further elaborated, “While we were able to collect the ‘golden orb’ and bring it onto the ship, we still are not able to identify it beyond the fact that it is biological in origin.”
“We likely won’t learn more until we are able to get it into a laboratory setting where we can continue to pull from the collective expertise of the scientific community with more sophisticated tools than we are able to maintain on the ship. While somewhat humbling to be stumped by this finding, it serves as a reminder of how little we know about our own planet and how much is left to learn and appreciate about our ocean,” Candio said in the NOAA’s blog.
The expedition coordinator also noted that it is still unclear if the golden dome is associated with a known species, a new species, or perhaps represents an unknown life stage of an existing one, NOAA said.
He believes that the new species have the potential to reveal new sources for medical therapies and vaccines, food, energy, and other societal benefits and knowledge. The researchers are still working to unveil the ‘golden egg’ mystery.
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Updated: 09 Sep 2023, 02:01 PM IST