Golden Egg

Golden Eggs are a type of collectible in the Salmon Run modes of and, in which collecting them is the main objective.

Splatoon 2
Golden Eggs spawn when a Boss Salmonid is defeated. Most Boss Salmonids drop three Golden Eggs. During the Mothership occurrence, only one is dropped. A hiding Goldie drops one Golden Egg after a certain number of hits, until it is splatted and drops three. During the fog, a Goldie can drop one, five, or ten Golden Eggs. Running or swimming into a Golden Egg picks it up, and only one Golden Egg can be held at a time. Once a Golden Egg has been obtained, it must be placed in the egg basket by pressing when nearby. Golden Eggs are retained if splatted while carrying one, but cannot be placed in the Egg Basket. A specified number of Golden Eggs must be returned to the Egg Basket in order to pass the wave.

If Golden Eggs are dropped and not picked up after a certain amount of time, a Snatcher comes to pick them up. Snatchers can pick up three Golden Eggs at a time. If the Snatcher is splatted before it makes it to the water, the Golden Eggs drop. If there are still Golden Eggs left after a wave has ended, the outer egg disappears and the fish skeleton on the inside falls, sinking into the ground.

Appearance
Golden Eggs look like the Power Eggs that are collected from defeating lesser Salmonids, but they are larger and have a fish skeleton inside them.

Splatoon 3
In, Golden Eggs can be thrown to pass the Egg to another player or to put them directly into the Egg Basket. This consumes roughly one-third of the ink tank.

Trivia

 * During the drowning animation, it is possible to see that, when submerged, Golden Eggs glow in a color similar to Salmonid ink.
 * In Mr. Grizz' character description it is mentioned that the Golden Eggs can be used as a high-performance energy source.
 * When multiple Golden Eggs overlap, most commonly seen in Goldie Seeking if enough damage is dealt to the Goldie while it is on top of its Gusher, the Golden Eggs turn dark gray until there is only one left in the pile.