Mysterious golden orb discovered two miles below the ocean surface isn\u2019t an alien\u2014it\u2019s an anemone<\/p>\n
This enigmatic orb has undergone extensive examination and DNA testing, enabling scientists to reveal its true origins<\/p>\n
By Adam Kovac<\/a> edited by Claire Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n In August 2023 scientists discovered something utterly bizarre in the deep ocean<\/a> off the coast of Alaska: a golden orb. The thing looked like something out of a science-fiction movie, but now scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Smithsonian Institution can reveal that it is not, in fact, an alien. It\u2019s an anemone<\/a>, or more specifically, the remnants of one.<\/p>\n The strange object was found during an expedition of the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer. The crew were using remote-controlled submersibles to explore a seamount in the Gulf of Alaska, more than two miles beneath the surface, when suddenly the orb popped into view on the video feed. Stuck to a rock amid some more pedestrian-looking sponges, one of the researchers commented that they seemed to have found something resembling a \u201cyellow hat<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n As they got a closer look, they saw that it was dome-shaped and about four inches in diameter and that it had a small tear near its base. The object was so strange that the scientists had no idea what it was beyond the observation that it seemed to be at least biological in origin. Guesses as to its nature veered from it being an odd egg casing to evidence of an entirely unknown stage of life. To find out, the researchers collected the orb and sent it to the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History for further study.<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cThis turned into a special case that required focused efforts and expertise of several different individuals,\u201d said Allen Collins, director of NOAA Fisheries\u2019 National Systematics Laboratory, in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThis was a complex mystery that required morphological, genetic, deep-sea and bioinformatics expertise to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n The efforts to solve the object\u2019s identity included genetic analysis and close examination of its physical attributes. Another, similar sample collected in 2021 was also studied for comparison. The scientists found both were composed of a fibrous material that contained many stinging cells called spirocysts, which belong exclusively to the branch of aquatic invertebrates known as cnidarians.<\/p>\n Whole-genome sequencing revealed the orb shared lots of genetic material with deep-sea anemones<\/a>. Sequencing its and the other specimen\u2019s mitochondrial genomes revealed that they were almost identical to that of a species of anemone called Relicanthus daphneae.<\/p>\n While the golden orb doesn’t look much like an R. daphneae, Steve Auscavitch, a marine biologist at the Smithsonian who was part of the team that found the 2021 sample, explains that there’s a good reason for that. Anemones grip onto a spot on the sea floor using a sticky substance that they secrete. Because it’s underneath them, it can be hard to get a look at what that actually looks like. The golden orb is what happens when an anemone glues itself into place.<\/p>\n “I suspect that this anemone was growing here for quite some time, kind of layers and layers and layers of this material,” he says.<\/p>\n Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas, NOAA Ocean Exploration<\/p>\n This species was discovered in the 1970s but wasn\u2019t formally classified until 2006. R. daphneae anemones live on the ocean floor, usually near thermal vents, and have pinkish or pale purple tentacles that stretch as long as seven feet.<\/p>\n \u201cSo often in deep ocean exploration, we find these captivating mysteries, like the \u2018golden orb,\u2019\u201d said William Mowitt, acting director of NOAA Ocean Exploration, in the same statement. \u201cWith advanced techniques like DNA sequencing, we are able to solve more and more of them. This is why we keep exploring\u2014to 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of what lives in the deep sea remains undiscovered by humans. Auscavitch notes that it’s rare for an expedition to come back without something new to identify. While most discoveries don’t capture the public imagination quite like the orb did, he believes the techniques used to identify its origins will lead to many more revelations.<\/p>\n “There’s thousands of other in the collections that we have not genetically sequenced,” he says. “Being able to do the same type of analysis on all those thousands of other things would probably reveal some more discoveries like this. Those things will come in time, and we’re just glad to get this one out first.”<\/p>\n It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 23, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Mysterious golden orb discovered two miles below…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-602329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n
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