KARL SHUKER ponders a mysterious golden orb and greets an unexpected canine hybrid
THE CRYPTID THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG?
On 30 August 2023, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) run by the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, launched by the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), plucked from a seamount two miles deep in the Pacific Ocean’s Gulf of Alaska a most extraordinary object. After being brought to the surface, the object was swiftly preserved in alcohol aboard the research vessel , before being examined indirectly via video by some very baffled scientists – as well they might be. Dome-shaped, and about 4in (10cm) inches wide, with a small hole at its base and originally attached to a rock, it looked for all the world like a golden egg. And indeed, although scientific opinion a month later remains divided as to what this mysterious orb actually is, a bona fide egg is one identity favoured by several researchers. Moreover, the fact that it has a hole in it indicates that if it is truly an egg, whatever creature it originally housed may well have exited before the ROV recovered it. However, no previously confirmed egg resembling this object has ever been recorded. Other identities suggested include some hitherto-unseen species of deep-sea sponge, or a coral, or even a barnacle. Once the expedition is complete, all of the specimens collected by it, including this enigmatic egg or egg-like object, will be shipped to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC where researchers can begin examining them directly. Perhaps via analyses of DNA samples extracted from its tissues the true nature of this anomalous golden sphere will be revealed, even though, if it is indeed an egg, its mysterious occupant is seemingly long gone and therefore destined to remain cryptic – and also very possibly a cryptid.
