Man finds softball-size eyeball on beach

reply to post by WhisperingWinds


This week the eyes have it.
NASA spotted a giant eye in space. news.yahoo.com...

Looks like the Giant Squid theory is number one at the moment:

The professor and her colleagues concluded that the eyeball's lens and pupil are similar in shape to that of a deep sea squid. She noted that a deep sea squid's eyeball can be as large as a soccer ball and can easily become dislodged.

Article One

A giant eyeball mystery that started when a large eye washed up on a South Florida beach may be solved, experts say. Since showing up on the beach, the giant eyeball has been studied by marine biologists who believe it belonged to a giant squid, The Associated Press reported.

A rticle Two

reply to post by ubeenhad


Similar save for the size. The eye they found is about five inches across. The one in the photo is not even an inch across.

reply to post by Honor93


yes but not this size. Think grapefruit not ping pong ball.

I am not swimming in the ocean anymore coz if there is something that large getting eaten by something discerning enough to spit the eyeballs out, i just won't feel safe, not even on a cruise ship.

Originally posted by karen61057
reply to post by ubeenhad

 

Similar save for the size. The eye they found is about five inches across. The one in the photo is not even an inch across.

No, come on look at the guys hand in the picture. Its obviously larger than an inch....

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by ThisToiletEarth

 

Sorry, my bad.
I simply supposed that the Fish and Wildlife Commission would have experts in a state surrounded by ocean who may have known what this eyeball used to be attached to.
So, correction -- the Fish and Wildlife Commission has no oceanic experts.

edit on 11-10-2012 by Afterthought because: (no reason given)

I hope you realized by now that St. Petersburg is in Florida, actually it is only roughly a 4 hour drive away from where the eyeball was found. They just don't have all their people patrolling the beaches just in case anything shows up. Also, how do you expect them to give a positive identity without testing and matching it against other known specimens they would have at their institute that might be of smaller size. So, before you bash the Fish and Wildlife Commission, you should learn some geography and how things work.


On the subject matter, I think it might be from a whale of some type. I thought giant squid too, but one thing that is odd is the grey skin around the eye. I remember one article I read about it said it might be from a giant eye thresher shark, but that didn't look right when looking at other pics. However, I did find a pic of a giant squid eye that looks rather close, but again that accursed grey skin around the eye makes me think it is from a whale or big fish of some kind.


This is from a giant humboldt squid.

It looks close to me from the eyeball found, but I guess I'll just have to wait for a positive identification from the Fish and Wildlife Commission (in Florida).

reply to post by StarTraveller


Thanks for posting those links.

I haven't been around today to check and see if anything has been determined, so a huge thanks to everyone for keeping an eye on this thread!

reply to post by deathlord


How many sea creatures have huge blue eyes?
I'd think they'd be able to offer a small list of possibilities even as it's being transferred to a lab where they can do a scientific analysis for a concrete answer.

Swordfish, like i thought.
new info on mystery eye

reply to post by lordpiney

Me too. And first.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Toot!
I want a cookie.

reply to post by lordpiney


Good find and thanks for posting, but still nothing concrete.
This part of the article was interesting and backs Phage's guess:

"There was a bit of bone left on the other side of the eye from where it was taken from the animal. That would eliminate a shark because they have cartilage, and on that basis it was likely one of the billfish."

Why would bone be attached? Was the creature crushed or run over by a ship or something?

reply to post by Afterthought

More likely caught.

The article suggests the fishermen may have intended to keep the eye as a sort of souvenir but I've seen large fish hooks (of the sort used for fish this size) do some pretty grim damage to the head of their victim. Possible it happened at gaff also.

I only with there were a way to show my utter disdain for this first year of art school monstrosity, other than just saying so because I feel I already wasted around two minutes of my life.

reply to post by Phage


Thanks for quelling my curiosity about the attached bone. I can certainly see how a salt water hook could've damaged the eye socket in such a way.

reply to post by Afterthought


Well, at least you didn't argue them being in Florida. However, there are plenty of big eyes out there, but the ocean is vastly unexplored and I would hazard to guess that there are a lot of species we don't know about. So, doing guesswork to give to a reporter seems like a waste of time, honestly, what does making a list of guesses accomplish? Absolutely nothing, but there was plenty of speculation on the scene with suggestions from other fish to whales. So, I am not really sure what else you expect out of them.

Originally posted by karen61057
reply to post by Honor93

 

yes but not this size. Think grapefruit not ping pong ball.

the first story (locally) reported a size equal to a baseball ... about 3-4" across.
(yes, also equal to a small/pink grapefruit)

that of a giant squid gets to be about 10" ... like a dinner plate.

have you seen dolphin eyes up close ??
i have and they are much bigger than a ping pong ball

it is interesting to ponder how/why a cold water squid would be found on a warm FL beach
also, if you extend a ruler across the distance of your cupped hands, you'll find it's roughly 4" ... which is another reason i doubt it's from a squid, unless it was a baby.

ETA - well, just read the updates and i agree it could be one of the billfish but i'm still curious what the FWC has to say.

Very cool find! Nice pics too. I think it's from a whale too.


Oh, it's a swordfish. Are they still being caught and eaten? I thought they were on the endangered list or near to it.

Originally posted by colin42
My Guess is it is a squids eye Squid eyeball pic

Marlin or huge swordfish, maybe a huge sailfish

At first, possible candidates included a giant squid, a whale or some type of large fish.

But spokesman for the institute Kevin Baxter told Sky News Online that bone has been found around the eyeball.

He says this means the eyeball is not from an invertebrate, which are animals that do not have backbones, such as squid.

"Because it's got bone we believe it is some kind of large fish," he said

LINK

explain just how might a 'giant squids' eyeball be washed up on a Fla. beach... these are really deep-sea creatures

they roam around in the dark depths of the oceans, not on the continental shelfs with shallow waters


i would think an aged squid would remain on a heap on the seafloor where scavangers might get a meal first but most of the body mass would just decompose


maybe it's a dinosaur eye from a contemporary "Island of Dr. Moreau" who creates chimeras and other cross DNA creatures...a black ops by a treacherous & evil underground cell of mad scientists