Pacific Ocean's mysterious glowing orb 'like an alien species'

Pacific Ocean's mysterious glowing orb 'like an alien species'

A glowing purple orb found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean probably isn't from outer space, scientists have deducted.

Despite its appearance they're leaning towards it being some kind of sea snail, but admit it could take years to figure out.

Pacific Ocean's mysterious glowing orb 'like an alien species'

(Ocean Exploration Trust / Nautilus)

The orb, covered in bumps and with a soft pink centre, was found 1500m underwater off the southern Californian coast last week. A video of the discovery, narrated in real-time by the Nautilus team as they found it, has been viewed 1.5 million times on YouTube.

The scientists wonder out loud what the "disco ball" could be.

"Maybe it's a spider egg sack?" suggests one.

"Maybe we should leave it then, we don't want to mess with spider egg sacks," replies another.

They're not the only ones interested - a crab competes with the submersible's robotic arms to get a hold of the mysterious golf ball-sized orb.

Creatures from the ocean's depths usually expand once brought to the surface, freed from the crushing weight of the sea. The orb was no exception.

"The first thing it did without the pressure of the ocean on it was evolve into these two brain hemispheres," scientist Michelle Dickinson told Paul Henry on Monday morning.

Pacific Ocean's mysterious glowing orb 'like an alien species'

(Ocean Exploration Trust / Nautilus)

It appears to be largely made up of a giant foot, suggesting it's a kind of sea slug or snail. Dr Dickinson's leaning towards snail.

"There have been no recorded sea slugs that are purple in the California region," she says, adding that in ancient times, purple dye was made from sea snails.

Despite still not being sure what it is, scientists have figured out a few things - it was only glowing because the Nautilus submersible was shining a light at it, and it's definitely not from outer space, as some onlookers suggested.

But this doesn't mean it isn't still extremely weird, says Dr Dickinson.

"We know less about our oceans than we know about some of our planet right now. We've mapped the moon, we've mapped Mars, we've mapped Venus in much more definition than we have our ocean floor.

"It's almost like an alien species, because there's a whole bunch of stuff down there we don't know what it is."

The Nautilus has a 24-hour live video feed on its website. http://www.nautiluslive.org/

Newshub.