A 'GOLDEN egg' has been found at the bottom of the sea - and although it's in the hands of scientists - it remains shrouded in mystery.
At first glance, it looks like it could be a pyrite nodule beneath some sea gunk.
But researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say the shiny object - found two miles deep in the Gulf of Alaska - is soft to touch, like skin tissue.
"This golden orb, likely an egg casing, struck an imaginative chord for many watching yesterday," NOAA wrote in on X (formerly Twitter).
Researchers also theorised that it could be the remains of a sea sponge.
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NOAA researchers found the shiny substance 250 miles off the coast of Southern Alaska while on a live stream, as part of their 24-day Seascape Alaska 5 expedition.
The expedition seeks to record areas of the ocean that have never been seen before by humans, with some sites nearly four miles deep.
“Something tried to get in… or to get out,” one researcher said on video, referring to the hole in the substance.
The alien-like object certainly came as a surprise to researchers, who made quips about the X-Files.
“I just hope when we poke it, something doesn’t decide to come out,” another scientist said.
“It’s like the beginning of a horror movie.”
A remotely operated arm was deployed to “tickle” the egg, which revealed to researchers the silky skin-like nature of the tissue.
It was then sucked up a tube for testing in a lab.
“When our collective knowledge can’t identify it, it’s something weird,” one team member concluded.
“What kind of an animal would make an egg casing like that?”
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With up to two thirds of life living in the deep sea thought to be undiscovered, it could mark an exciting new find for science.
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