Our new overlord, blobus purpilis. Image: YouTube/Nautilus

We’re not saying it’s aliens, but a team of scientists has just discovered a glowing purple orb at the bottom of the ocean, and if you’ve ever seen The Abyss, I think you know how this will end.




A scientific research vessel operated by Ocean Exploration Trust, E/V Nautilus is currently parked off the coast of Southern California exploring one of the most tectonically active margins of our planet. Earlier this week, Naultilus’s deep sea-diving ROV was scuttling around on the seafloor when it spied what appeared to be a bright purple jelly sac, just a few inches in diameter.

After some delightfully nerdy speculation regarding the nature of said blob—I think cnidarian, spider egg sac, and ‘blobus purpilis’ were tossed out—the scientists operating Nautilus’ undersea robot decided to suck the thing up and bring it back to the surface for scientific analysis. If it turns out to be a brand new life form, it could take years to identify.


Alternatively, the entire Nautilus crew might have already been compromised by a sentient alien parasite, a hypothesis which would seem to be supported by their last uncanny update: “after sampling, [the blob] began to unfold to reveal two distinct lobes.”

We’ll let you decide what happened next.



[Nautilus]