Unusual 'Blue Goo' Found On Ocean Floor Baffles Scientists

An unusual-looking blue creature has been discovered on the floor of the Caribbean Sea in Puerto Rico.

An ocean exploration team of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found the unidentified blue organism during a deep sea dive of about 1,400 feet south of St. Croix on Aug. 30.

A video recorded by the explorers showed the formless and faceless blue creature staying still. Furthermore, the creature appeared limbless and covered with bumps.

A scientist, who observed the circles on its surface, pointed out it might be able to extend and retract part of itself.

NOAA shared the video of the "blue goo" on Twitter, noting the animal was spotted multiple times in the region and stumped the scientists. They identified three possible species the creature might belong to -- a soft coral, a tunicate, or a type of sponge.

They, however, dismissed the prospects of the blue organism being a rock.

"Scientists think it may be a soft coral, sponge, or tunicate...but at the moment, it remains a mystery," the team said.

"It's not quite gooish, but doesn't seem particularly not gooish," one scientist noted in the video feed.

According to the team, coral and sponges experts will be consulted to find a definitive answer regarding the identity of the creature.

The discovery was made during the Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition led by NOAA Ocean Exploration between May 14 and Sept. 2. As part of the expedition, the team was collecting data on "unexplored and poorly understood deep water areas" off the East Coast, including the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Azores Plateau.

During the same expedition, the explorers also discovered a rare gathering of the sea urchin Conolampas sigsbei in deep waters near St. Croix. Scientists believe the huge "crowd" of over 35 individual Conolampas sigsbei found at a depth of about 411 meters (1,348 feet) was a mating aggregation. According to the scientists, the most unique aspect of the gathering was the creatures showed a sort of ocean debris "hat" on the apex of the body.

"The most unusual aspect of this urchin social 'meet n' greet' is the fact that all of the observed urchins displayed some kind of debris on the apex of its body," a report said.