A mysterious blue eyeball that washed ashore in Florida may belong to a squid or swordfish, a scientist said.
The eyeball, which is the size of a soft ball, was discovered Wednesday morning by a man taking a stroll on Pompano Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale.
“It was very, very fresh,” Gino Covacci, who discovered the eyeball, told Florida’s Sun-Sentinel on Thursday.
“It was still bleeding when I put it in the plastic bag,” he said.
He stored it in his refrigerator until he could notify the local authorities.
Officials at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission launched an extensive study to determine the eye’s species of origin and posted a photo of it on its Facebook page to encourage followers to share their own theories.
On Friday, Heather Bracken-Grissom, an assistant biology professor at Florida International University in Miami, said she has been conferring with her colleagues about the organ after seeing photos online.
She said its likely origin is a deep sea squid or a large swordfish.
According to Bracken-Grissom, the lens and pupil are like those in a deep sea squid's eye, which can be as large as soccer balls and dislodge easily.
The waters off the coast of southern Florida abound with large sharks, tuna, swordfish and whales.
With files from The Associate Press
