2026年4月23日 / 美国东部时间上午10:41 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：克里·布林
克里·布林是CBSNews.com的新闻编辑。她毕业于纽约大学亚瑟·L·卡特新闻学院，此前曾在NBC新闻的《今日数字》工作。她负责报道时事、突发新闻以及包括物质使用在内的相关议题。
阅读完整简历
美国国家海洋和大气管理局（NOAA）周三表示，科学家已解开2023年该机构研究人员在水下数千英尺处发现的“金珠”之谜。
该球体是在阿拉斯加湾由一艘远程遥控水下航行器发现的。NOAA称，当时这艘航行器在水下两英里多的位置，发现了一个“奇怪的、金色的、形似土丘的物体，上面有一个洞，附着在一块岩石上”。该物体被回收并送往史密森尼国家自然历史博物馆进行研究。
NOAA渔业局国家分类学实验室主任、动物学家艾伦·柯林斯表示，他原本以为通过“常规流程”就能让科学家确认该物体的身份，但这颗“金珠”的识别难度远超预期。
2023年8月30日，NOAA的科学家在阿拉斯加海岸外操作远程深海潜水器时，发现了这颗未被识别的类金珠生物体。图片来源：NOAA
柯林斯说：“这后来变成了一个特殊案例，需要多名不同领域专家的集中努力和专业知识。这是一个复杂的谜团，需要形态学、遗传学、深海生物学和生物信息学方面的专业知识才能解开。”
首先，科学家对这颗“金珠”的物理结构进行了研究。他们发现它并非动物，而是一种“纤维物质”，表面覆盖着刺细胞，类似海葵或珊瑚的刺细胞。这些细胞被确认为刺丝囊，一种可用于捕获猎物的特化细胞结构。这类细胞仅存在于被称为刺胞动物的一类水生无脊椎动物身上。
研究团队意识到，这些细胞与2021年收集的一个标本中的细胞相似。他们将这颗“金珠”与该标本进行比对，确认二者属于同一物种。
对“金珠”和2021年标本的初步DNA检测结果未能得出结论，但全基因组测序显示，二者与一种名为Relicanthus daphneae的刺胞动物“基因几乎完全一致”。NOAA在一段解释该研究过程的视频中表示，进一步分析让团队确定，这颗“金珠”“曾经是巨型海葵基部的一部分”。视频链接
YouTube视频：NOAA海洋探索频道发布的《神秘金珠确认身份！》
NOAA表示，这个吸引所有人目光的金色物体通常隐藏在海葵下方，但不知为何这颗“金珠”“似乎被遗留了下来”。科学家目前仍不清楚海葵的顶部发生了什么。在视频中，NOAA推测它可能已经死亡，或是迁移到了新的栖息地。
据研究人员介绍，完整的海葵拥有粉红色圆柱形躯体，直径可达3英尺。其触手最长可达6英尺。它的刺丝囊是所有已知刺胞动物中最大的。
NOAA海洋勘探代理主任威廉·莫维特表示：“在深海勘探中，我们经常会遇到这些引人入胜的谜团，比如这颗‘金珠’。借助DNA测序等先进技术，我们能够解开越来越多的谜题。这也是我们持续探索的原因——解开深海的秘密，更好地了解海洋及其资源如何推动经济增长、强化国家安全，并维系我们的星球。”
Mysterious “golden orb” found in ocean depths off Alaska in 2023 is finally identified
April 23, 2026 / 10:41 AM EDT / CBS News
By Kerry Breen
Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
Read Full Bio
Scientists have solved the mystery of a “golden orb” found thousands of feet underwater by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in 2023, the agency said on Wednesday.
The orb was found in the Gulf of Alaska, by a remotely operated underwater vehicle. The device was over two miles underwater when it spotted a “strange, golden, mound-shaped object with a hole in it, stuck to a rock,” NOAA said. It was collected and sent to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for study.
Allen Collins, the director of NOAA Fisheries’ National Systematics Laboratory and a zoologist, said that he thought “routine processes” would allow scientists to identify the object. But the orb proved trickier.
Scientists with NOAA discovered an unidentified golden orb-like organism while operating a remote deep-sea diving vessel off the coast of Alaska on August 30. NOAA
“This turned into a special case that required focused efforts and expertise of several different individuals. This was a complex mystery that required morphological, genetic, deep-sea and bioinformatics expertise to solve,” Collins said.
First, scientists studied the physical structure of the orb. They found it wasn’t an animal, but that it was a “fibrous material” covered with stinging cells, like an anemone or coral might be. Those cells were identified as spirocysts, a specialized cellular structure that can capture prey. Such cells only exist on one group of aquatic invertebrates, called cnidarians.
The research team realized that the cells looked similar to the ones seen in a specimen collected in 2021. They compared the golden orb to that specimen, and found they were the same species.
Initial DNA testing on the golden orb and the 2021 specimen was inconclusive, but whole-genome sequencing showed that both were “genetically almost identical” to a kind of cnidarian called Relicanthus daphneae. More analysis allowed the team to determine that the orb “had once been part of the base of a giant sea anemone,” NOAA said in a video explaining the processhttps://youtu.be/FUXrvirtdB8?si=Ear9NUtQ4sLR0xif.
Mysterious Golden Orb Identified! by NOAA Ocean Exploration on YouTube
The golden object that caught everyone’s eye is usually hidden underneath the anemone, NOAA said, but somehow, this one “seems to have been left behind.” Scientists still don’t know what happened to the top of the anemone. In the video, NOAA suggested it might have died or moved to a new home.
The full anemone has a pink-colored, cylindrical body that can grow to up to three feet across, according to researchers. Its tentacles can be up to six feet long. It stinging spirocysts are the largest among all known cnidarians.
“So often in deep ocean exploration, we find these captivating mysteries, like the ‘golden orb,’” said NOAA Ocean Exploration acting director William Mowitt. “With advanced techniques like DNA sequencing, we are able to solve more and more of them. This is why we keep exploring—to unlock the secrets of the deep and better understand how the ocean and its resources can drive economic growth, strengthen our national security, and sustain our planet.”
发表回复