In 2023, NOAA Ocean Exploration found a "golden orb" in the deep ocean near Alaska. The orb fascinated experts and the public, inspiring many guesses about what it could be.

After collection, our team sent the orb to NOAA Fisheries' National Systematics Laboratory, located at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. There, scientists discovered that the orb was once part of the base of a giant deep-sea anemone, Relicanthus daphneae. Learn More