Softball-Size Eyeball Washes Ashore In Pompano Beach
POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) — A giant blue eyeball washed ashore Wednesday in Pompano Beach.
It is unknown what species the softball-size eyeball came from. Judging by the eyeball's gargantuan size, some propose it could be a giant squid or a whale.
Gino Covacci spotted the eyeball Wednesday and reported it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"He was walking along the beach and found it and thought it looked like something cool," Carli Segelson, spokeswoman for the commission, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Thursday.
The huge, blue eyeball may have come from a deep sea squid or a large sword fish, said Heather Bracken-Grissom, an assistant professor in the marine science program at Florida International University in Miami.
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.
Wildlife officers placed the eyeball on ice. It will be preserved in formalin and sent for analysis to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Associated Press contributed material for this report.
