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Carli Segelson / Fla. FWCC via AP
A photo from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shows a giant eyeball from a mysterious sea creature that washed ashore and was found by a man walking the beach in Pompano Beach, Fla., on Wednesday. The eyeball will be sent to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla.
A giant eyeball that washed ashore and was found by a beachcomber in Pompano Beach, Fla., is mystifying wildlife officials — but probably not for long.
The softball-sized eyeball was reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday, and wildlife officers put the specimen on ice. It will be preserved and sent to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., for analysis.
Marine biologists couldn't immediately identify which species of sea creature would be associated with the eye, but researchers will use genetic testing if necessary to solve the mystery, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the commission. "I shouldn't say this, but they may be able to eyeball it," she told me today.
Segelson said she's been fielding tons of inquiries about the case, especially since a picture of "THE MYSTERY EYEBALL" was posted to the commission's Facebook page. "It's just gone viral," she said. There are more pictures in the commission's Flickr photo gallery.
Some have suggested that the eye came from a monster fish, a giant squid or even a whale. It does look a bit like this picture of an eye from a giant squid, but Segelson said wildlife officers are leaning toward a different scenario.
"The primary suspect right now is that it would be a large fish," she said. Among the possibilities are a swordfish, or a tuna, or some sort of deep-water fish species.
What do you think it is? Feel free to give it your best shot a comment below, and keep your eyes peeled for the answer.
More sea marvels:
- Florida fishermen pick up dying giant squid
- Hawaiian squid carries a built-in light
- Boy finds a bonanza in whale vomit
- Gallery: 10 deep-sea secrets revealed
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
It looks like a giant squid eye.
Everbody's smokin kraken again, we all know it's Nessie lost an eye in a battle with Mr T.
I bet it can't SEE what all the fuss is about.....
Thats what happens when fish play with BB guns....
Forget the eye, what do you guys think the person holding it has for a tattoo?
is anyone here a marine biologist?
A blue eye might not could see in blue water anyway.
it is obviously an eye from the Fish Man from Star Wars..
You mean Admiral Ackbar
I just can't see something that large washing ashore.
Its what's left from Marty Feldman.
sammy davis jr. ?
How does an intact eyeball make it to shore, without getting munched???
Lol, whoaaaa! Big eyeball, must have come from something! Who knows what lurks in the deep! There's big eyeballs watching us.
The eye of a giant squid is the size of a dinner plate. That eye is only the size of a salad plate. The coloring is also off for a giant squid.
The gaff comments have taken care of my sit up needs for the day.
Now I've seen everything
I would say it looks like a Swordfish eye. A very big swordfish. Perhaps caught in a net, which causes all sorts of traumas to sea creatures. Hmmm, and I would guess he was thinking about swimming at TOD.
It would be interesting if they (whom-ever "THEY" happen to be) can extrapolate from the size of the eyeball, the potential size of the creature where it may have come from and that could, besides the genetic testing, determine what the likely source is...fish, whale, squid, whatever...and it is the whatever that could really be the most fascinating end result of the testing.
Now Admiral Ackbar must use an eyepatch
I've GOT IT !! Its the right front Headlight from a 1957 Chevrolet ! And... More than likely came from Cuba !
That is one big eyeball, awesome!
that eye belongs to CBS ! THE CREEPY EYE NETWORK
Looks like Ryan's eye, just before Biden stuck his finger in it.
Good one. Give that boy a pat on the head for effort Joe.
Looks like a giant squid eye to me. Maybe not fully grow at the time he lost it.
It's OBAMA's eye!
Biden did SO MUCH BETTER than the Prez, it knocked his eye out!
Despite Biden's rudeness and lies, last night, Romney/Ryan is still going to win, though.
Randy, if you want to believe the absolute factless points that Ryan trotted out in last night's VP debate, then you are one of the low information voters we keep hearing about.
Did Ryan win by putting his religious preferences over the wants of the women who would like to have control over their own bodies, rather than having big brother force them to shop around to find a particular health provider to get birth control? Big government, under Romney and Ryan, would control their brand of death panels and access to contraception! Did Ryan win by placing his personal religion over Americans with other beliefs when it comes to women wanting access to abortion services?
No one forces anyone to get an abortion in this country, but the zealots on the right would force their brand of religion down upon those who aren't even Christians.
This America is not a theocracy, but Romney and Ryan want to make us just like a Taliban state! Screw that! Ryan co-sponsored a bill with Tod Akin to create excuseable rape laws, because of special conditions!
Romney has openly pronounced he would turn over Roe vs. Wade laws that were settled 40 years ago. Who wants the country to go back to the days of coat-hanger abortions and women dying in the streets like we had back then? You are probably too young to remember those days! But they were real! And the laws against a woman to make her own decisions about her own family are nothing more than government coming between a doctor and the patient! Romney and Ryan want to have government control over our daughters!
Ryan, using Benghazi's loss of our ambassador in a consulate, not an embassy, as his hammer, while he endorsed the cuts of over 500 million dollars in Embassy security costs over the last two years is like the pot calling the kettle black!
Ryan also endorsed the war in Iraq, while Obama did not, and it resulted in the loss of life and limb to thousands of our soldiers, reporters, and embassy folks there. But because Republicans want to brand Obama, who not only has to keep an eye on 50 states, the intelligence department, the hundreds of countries we deal with on a daily basis, and campaigning for presidency that Republicans have turned into a 365 day a year process, now seeks to blame Obama for what the State Department should have responded to, if there was a complaint about the lack of security in one little town, in one country, where a group of terrorists had mayhem in mind!
Perhaps Romney and Ryan believe we should be like Israel and make every American citizen join the military service for two years and post our folks in every country around the world that we feel threatened about. But Republicans in Congress would never allow their children to join up! Are Romney's sons willing to volunteer? No! Are Ryans kids ready to volunteer? No!
Romney and Ryan are criticising this president, who had to get this country out from under the "Great Recession" Republicans left him, and your main complaints are "his" unwillingness to negotiate across the aisles, while your Republicans refuse to pass Infra-structure bills and hold the economy hostage unless we keep the taxbreaks for your rich campaign financers? Why are your Republicans blocking jobs bills?
Ryan's complaint is that Obama could not be in thousands of places at once and is only human? Do you see how bereft of understanding both Romney and Ryan are, when it comes to their concept of what a President and a Vice President can do?
Every administration makes mistakes. But let's not call out the mistake until we know all of the facts! It took twenty years for Watergate to be resolved. Snap judgements are not very presidential! But Romney and Ryan are both petulent little rich kids, used to getting their way, or they will throw the toy box at whoever talks back to them. Just like they would around the world!
Do we dare trust their judgement in world affairs, too?
Obama in 2012, the safer choice!
I was floating acloss the ocean, when I saw the island in the mist. As I floated closer I could see it was not an island at all, it was...Godzilla!! And he was missing an eye!