A team from the US Federal Oceanographic Agency NOAA discovered a mysterious object at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists descended to take a closer look at an extinct underwater volcano off the southern coast of Alaska on August 30 when their attention was drawn to something else, The Economic Times and the British publication The Telegraph reported.
Photos taken by the research team at a depth of 3.2 km show something golden against the dark ocean floor. The shape of the object resembles the oval of an egg.
The first guesses are that it could indeed be an eggshell or the remains of a sea sponge. With the help of a robotic arm, the “golden” object was withdrawn to be examined in a laboratory. However, the results are not ready yet.
A comment by one of the scientists can be heard in the recorded footage.
“If we can’t identify it, then it’s something strange. What animal would create such a shell?” he asks.
“I just hope nothing comes out of it when we dig it up. It’s like the beginning of a horror movie,” said a voice behind the shared footage.
The texture of the object was later found to resemble silk rather than the expected solid.
The German publication BILD contacted the marine biologist Prof. Dr. Boris Chulik.
“Yes, it could be a cracked eggshell or even a piece of plastic. But it could also be a bacterial colony on an alga,” he says.
The dive in the Gulf of Alaska is part of the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, whose goal is to make videos of areas no human has seen before, bTV reported.
Some of the investigated sites are up to six kilometers deep. The habitats of deep-sea corals and sponges, as well as underwater volcanoes, will also be explored. The dives will continue until September 15.
2023-09-07 14:26:00
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