In 2023, NOAA came across a strange golden mass at the bottom of the ocean.
The ROV Deep Discoverer was dispatched to probe the depths off Alaska. In water so deep that light never reaches it, scientists spotted a glowing orb.
It took three years to solve the mystery of something no one had ever seen before.
After intense analysis across a host of disciplines, we finally have the answer. What did the shining object turn out to be?
All that glitters: How a mystery materialized in the deep
NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer crew were baffled when they found a golden orb while observing a live feed.
Scientists had been operating a remotely operated vehicle at crushing, dark depths and freezing temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska.
Listening to the recording of the moment the object was revealed, it was a clear surprise from the get-go.
It emerged from the gloom two miles below the ocean surface, shining in the light of the ROV.
The ROV’s robotic arm carefully collected the specimen for laboratory scrutiny on the surface.
Expectations were that it would turn out to be an egg case or dead sponge or coral. Not much to write home about.
But the mystery only deepened. Because the golden orb was neither of those things.
The standard tests eventually gave way to complex DNA inspection.
Now, after three years, we finally have answers. And it’s not what scientists initially suspected.
Decoding the DNA: A complex investigation to name the unknown
The blob came in at four inches across with a hole in one side. It looked like something had either come out or gone in.
Scientists were delighted to discover something new. But they still expected that routine testing would make it all clear.
The complex endeavor eventually ended up needing morphological, genetic, deep-sea, and bioinformatics expertise to solve.
The first thing researchers noted was that the specimen’s anatomy did not present like that expected in an animal. It was fibrous and packed with stinging cells called cnidocytes. These are typically seen in corals and anemones.
This particular type was spirocysts, only found in the Hexacorallia class of cnidarians.
But then the investigation ran into a serious snag.
Superficial DNA testing was inconclusive for an odd reason. The mass was teeming with microscopic life.
NOAA had to extract the whole deep genome first.
Three years and every test in the book: A name for the golden orb
It turns out that the glowing object was an anemone, Relicanthus daphneae. Researchers were thrilled to have an answer to one of many ocean mysteries, like signals coming from the seafloor.
R. daphneae is one of the weirder animals that nature has produced. It’s uncommonly large for a sea anemone, with tentacles reaching up to seven feet long.
The blob is not the animal itself, though. It’s a cuticle left behind by one of them.
The cuticle is a thin, multilayered coating secreted by the outer tissues of some anemones. It forms flexible, sheet-like structures that can detach. Which is why this one was found discarded on the seafloor.
Its main ingredient is chitin, the tough, fibrous material that makes up hard parts of many other organisms.
The cuticle is a microorganism party venue
The volume of microorganisms detected suggests it may act as a hotspot of microbial activity, where microbes break down decaying tissue.
Researchers believe the abandoned part might be a clue about reproduction, which is a focus of several exciting new studies.
The process is difficult to understand in creatures living in such an inaccessible habitat, though.
Imagine leaving behind a trace of yourself so strange that it takes humanity three years to figure out what it is.
With over 80% of the world’s oceans still unmapped and unexplored, do you think we will ever truly understand the deep sea? Or are some mysteries, like Bigfoot’s DNA, meant to stay hidden?