Unidentified "gold orb" found growing off coast of Alaska

GULF OF ALASKA (KFOR/Storyful) - Scientists conducting a deep sea expedition discovered an unidentified golden organism they described as "biological in origin," on the bottom of the sea floor off the coast of Alaska.

In the video at the top of this story, researchers with NOAA Ocean Exploration are heard saying, "I just hope if we poke it, something doesn't decide to come out. It's like the beginning of a horror movie." Another chimed in, saying, “Pretty sure this is how the first episode of the X-Files started."

The discovery was made with a remote deep sea diving vessel, as part of the 2023 Seascape Alaska Expedition in the Gulf of Alaska.

After scraping the specimen, it appeared to be very fragile in nature, but scientists were still able to use a vacuum contraption to recover the species on August 30.

NOAA Ocean Exploration said the organism is "biological in origin," such as a sea anemone or a plant, but it is now headed to a lab to further study the unidentified species.

"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," said NOAA Ocean Exploration’s Sam Candio. "Isn't the deep sea so delightfully strange?"