Mysterious 'golden egg' from deep seabed leaves scientists dumbfounded

Marine scientists are dumbfounded by a peculiar golden item that was found on the ocean floor near Alaska's coast with a shiny appearance and a small opening that suggests it could be an egg from an unfamiliar species.

The mind-boggling discovery was made by a group of deep-sea explorers from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last week, The Telegraph reported.

“Something tried to get in... or to get out,” one researcher said during the live feed of the remotely operated dive, which took place two miles beneath the surface at the site of an extinct volcano.

“I just hope when we poke it, something doesn’t decide to come out,” a second marine scientist said. “It’s like the beginning of a horror movie. When our collective knowledge can’t identify it, it’s something weird. What kind of an animal would make an egg casing like that?”

A group of researchers used a robotic arm to dislodge the golden "egg" from its rocky surroundings and retrieve it for examination at the surface.

While it was anticipated that the texture would be similar to that of a shark egg, it was instead comparable to skin tissue or silk but DNA testing is currently underway to determine its identity.

The NOAA suggested that an egg casing was the most likely explanation because several deep sea fish, such as sharks and rays are known to deposit egg cases in similar habitats but experts are stumped about its origin.

Other suggestions have included a new type of coral, a Pacific barnacle or a sponge.

The unidentified object was discovered on the eighth day of NOAA's Seascape Alaska 5 project, studying the seafloor about 250 miles south of the Alaskan coast since August 23.

The team has been collecting samples of organisms living in deep-sea coral, sponge habitats, and mud volcanoes because it is believed that about one-third of marine life is still unexplored.

Kerry Howell, a professor of deep-sea ecology at the University of Plymouth, told Daily Mail that the object is “weird”.

“In my 20 years exploring the deep sea I have not seen anything like that,” she said. “It’s always exciting to see new things and I will wait eagerly for the analysis on the sample to understand what it actually is.

“There are many many undiscovered species in the deep sea so this could be related to a new species quite easily.”