Researchers discover "one-in-a-million" purple egg on sea floor

PACIFIC OCEAN (KTRK) -- A deep-sea exploration in the Pacific Ocean yielded an unexpected find: a large purple egg.

NOAA scientists operating the Okeanos Explorer research vessel discovered the odd creature near Baker Island, an uninhabited atoll that sits halfway between Hawaii and Australia.

"This is a true one-in-a-million kind of a find," remarked one scientist upon seeing the specimen.

According to researchers, the purple structure is actually an octopus egg whose casing had cracked open, revealing one of the baby octopus' outer membranes.

"I've seen the cases attached, but I've never seen a partially opened one before," said another researcher.

During the dive, scientists also observed sea cucumbers, a possible new species of sea stars, sponges, a hermit crab, shrimp, sea urchins and a sea spider forming a vibrant marine ecosystem.

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