The giant eyeball mystery has been solved.
Experts, eyewitnesses, and the curious people of the internet have been speculating over the origins of a giant eyeball that washed up on a beach in Florida last week. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the softball sized eye came from a swordfish. The Commission believes that a fisherman cut the eye out of the fish’s head and then tossed it overboard.
The commission writes:
“After examining an eye found on a south Florida beach this week, researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission believe the specimen came from a swordfish.”
NBC reports that experts are currently running genetic tests to confirm that the eyeball belonged to a swordfish.
Scientists initially believed that the eyeball came from a giant squid . Upon closer inspection, however, researchers believe that it is more likely that the eye was cut out by a fisherman and thrown into the sea.
Joan Herrera, curator of collections at the FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, said:
“‘Experts on site and remotely have viewed and analyzed the eye, and based on its color, size and structure, along with the presence of bone around it, we believe the eye came from a swordfish. Based on straight-line cuts visible around the eye, we believe it was removed by a fisherman and discarded.”
Do you think the giant eyeball mystery has been solved? Is this what a severed swordfish eye looks like?
