What NOAA Found 2 Miles Under The Gulf Of Alaska

In 2023, a NOAA robot found a smooth golden dome glued to a rock 2 miles down in the Gulf of Alaska. It took more than two and a half years, but scientists now know what it was. #deepsea #GoldenOrb #OceanMystery ⚠️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X2MnoHNDes&list=PL0H5lrcTOMY83VEIt2hu1weXKq-HqHNKc&index=2&pp=iAQB0gcJCTUMAYcqIYzvsAgC 🌊 In August 2023, a NOAA robot was 2 miles down in the Gulf of Alaska when its lights picked out a smooth golden dome, glued to a rock, with a hole torn in one side. The scientists watching live guessed a sponge, then a coral, then an egg case. One of them said something had either tried to get in, or tried to get out. It took more than two and a half years, a failed DNA test, a second sample from another expedition and a whole genome to name what made it. And the answer raised two new questions: what kind of animal this really is, and where the rest of it went. So what was the golden orb, and why can't anyone say what happened to whatever left it there? Let's find out. 🧭 Chapters 0:00 Something Gold 0:31 The Discovery 2:06 No Mouth, No Gut 3:50 It Had Happened Before 5:58 Nobody Can Place It 7:45 Where It Went Sources: NOAA — Scientists reveal identity of mysterious 'golden orb' collected during NOAA expedition — https://www.noaa.gov/news/scientists-reveal-identity-of-mysterious-golden-orb-collected-during-noaa-expedition NOAA Ocean Exploration — Unidentified Golden Specimen Captures Public Imagination — https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/oer-updates/2023/golden-orb.html NOAA Ocean Exploration — EX2306 ROV Dive 07 Summary — https://oer.hpc.msstate.edu/okeanos/ex2306/noaa_60802_DS8.pdf NOAA Ocean Exploration — Seascape Alaska 5 (EX2306) Expedition Summary — https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/seascape-alaska/ex2306/features/summary/summary.html bioRxiv — Auscavitch et al. 2026, The Curious Case of the Golden Orb (preprint, not yet peer-reviewed) — https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.17.719276v1.full