Oceanographers have grappled with the identity of the bizarre golden object that was removed from the ocean floor off the coast of Alaska.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the shiny object is delicate to the touch, similar to skin tissue.
It could be an egg shell or the remains of a sea sponge, but DNA testing in the lab could reveal a whole new animal, completely unknown to science.
NOAA experts likened it to something “out of a horror movie,” referring to a scene in “Alien” where John Hurt’s character discovers the “Facehugger” on another planet.
dr Tammy Horton of the National Oceanography Center in Southampton couldn’t say which mysterious object it was, but agreed it was “possibly a new species”.
NOAA used a remote-controlled arm to “tickle” the object, removing it from its rock. It was then sucked up through a pipe to bring it back to shore
“It’s not uncommon to find the unknown in the deep sea – we have a lot to explore,” she told MailOnline.
“They have a sample and they will be able to examine it more closely and will probably do some genetic analysis to at least determine what kind of animal it came from.”
Notably, the object had a gaping hole on the front, suggesting that something was made of it.
“It could in fact be an egg shell (explaining the ‘exit hole’),” said Dr. Horton.
dr Lucy Woodall, associate professor of marine conservation at the University of Exeter, agreed that it looks like a sponge — an immobile aquatic invertebrate that resembles a coral.
“The hole is probably just damage done over time, but it could also provide whole new insights into how deep-sea life survives and thrives,” she told MailOnline.
“But the deep sea is full of wonders that we are just discovering.”
“I look forward to learning more about this from the taxonomists who will be working on the collected specimens.”
Kerry Howell, professor of deep-sea ecology at the University of Plymouth, said the object was “strange” and unlike anything she had encountered before.
“In my 20 years of exploring the deep sea, I have never seen anything like it,” she told MailOnline.
“It’s always exciting to see new things and I’m eagerly awaiting the analysis of the sample to understand what it actually is.”
An egg, scraps of sponge or something else? The mysterious gold object with a hole in it was discovered on the seabed off the Alaskan coast
It could be an egg shell or the remains of a sea sponge, but DNA testing in the lab could reveal a whole new animal, completely unknown to science
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the shiny object is delicate to the touch, similar to skin tissue.
What are sea sponges?
Sponges are simple aquatic animals with dense but porous skeletons that attach to rocks.
While they are immobile like corals, they are otherwise entirely different organisms with different feeding methods and reproductive processes.
Certain sponge species have a fossil record dating back about 600 million years.
Source: NOAA
“There are many, many undiscovered species in the deep sea, so this could be linked to a new species quite easily.”
Professor Howell also said the hole could be where the critter breathes in and out if it’s a sponge, or where the animal hatched if it’s an egg shell.
dr Pierre Josso, a post-doctoral fellow at the British Geological Survey, said the object was “intriguing but not really surprising”.
“Most of the dives we discover new biological structures or species as the seabed has rarely been explored,” he told MailOnline.
“New species — or relics of evolutionary stages of both known and unknown species — have been cataloged with increasing frequency over the past decade as the deep sea is explored with greater care than ever before.”
“As for its origin, function, and reason for the hole in its structure, it’s too early to say.”
While the “golden” appearance catches the eye, that’s largely due to the glow of the remote-controlled vehicle (ROV)’s headlights that lifted it off its rock, added Dr. Josso added.
A later photo of the object in the lab, after it was brought ashore, shows it to be a tan-yellow color that “closes to many other organic hues,” he said.
Considering that up to two-thirds of life in the deep ocean is believed to be unknown to science, this could be an exciting new discovery
NOAA experts likened it to something “out of a horror movie” in reference to a scene in Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979) in which John Hurt’s character discovers the “Facehugger” on another planet (pictured).
Murray Roberts, a professor of marine biology at the University of Edinburgh, agreed with NOAA scientists that it could be an egg.
“Several species, including endangered deep-sea fish such as sharks and rays, lay their eggs on seamounts or in cold-water coral habitats,” he told MailOnline.
“Hence the hole – something hatched and swam away.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Natural History Museum in London said: “Our experts have said that there are many new species of benthic deep-sea sponges in the deep sea.”
The “golden egg” was found on the eighth day of NOAA’s Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, which runs from August 23 to September 16.
Any fans interested in witnessing similarly remarkable discoveries can follow the mission’s progress on one dedicated website on the NOAA website.
From tulip-shaped sea sponges to ‘rubber squirrels’, Natural History Museum scientists discover 39 potential new species living on the seafloor
Scientists discovered 39 species that are “potentially new to science” while studying up to 16,700 feet (5,100 meters) underwater.
A robot has been sent to the deep sea plains of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the central Pacific – one of the world’s least-explored regions – to collect specimens of deep-sea creatures.
Researchers from the Natural History Museum in London discovered 39 brand new species of megafauna as well as nine known species.
rubber squirrel, or Psychropotes longicauda, at 5,100 m depth on abyssal sediments in the western CCZ. This animal is approximately 60 cm long (including the tail) and has red gnawing palps (or “lips”) visibly extending from its front end (right).
Specimens found included spindle-shaped starfish, tulip-shaped sea sponges, spiny sea urchins and “gummy squirrel” sea cucumbers.
The rubber squirrel owes its name to its perky tail, which stretches up behind it as it moves through the water.
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