Deep off the coast of California, a mysterious purple light emerged from a crevice in the seafloor.
Was it a living orb? A sack filled with ferocious water spiders? A beach ball for a curious crab?
There was only one way to find out.
Scientists on the Exploration Vessel Nautilus fired up their bright green lasers. And a “slurp” tube. They brought the blob on board.
This scene unfolded in a video posted this week on Nautilus Live, a website devoted to the vessel’s expeditions.
“Oooooo” the group cooed in the footage as the purple sphere traveled up the tube. “I don’t know if it’s squishy,” a researcher pondered aloud.
The 210-foot (64-meter) ship is operated by Ocean Exploration Trust. Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreckage of the Titanic, started the nonprofit in 2008 to engage in “pure ocean exploration.”
The Nautilus crew is combing the depths off the shores of Los Angeles from late July to mid-August as part of a four-month research mission in Californian and Canadian waters.
Scientists have since determined that the glowing purple sphere might be a pleurobranch, a relative of the sea slug.
“Currently none of the known species of California deep-sea pleurobranchs are purple, so this could be a new discovery,” the team wrote on the Nautilus website, adding that it might take several years for scientists to figure out if this blob is, in fact, a new species.
