Giant Eyeball Discovered on Florida Beach
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 12th, 2012
Photos from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission show 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, Florida.
What is it from?
More details (in English, in English, and in French).
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
An estimate of the size of the eye may be around 5 inches, judging by the hands.
A bit small for a giant squid, which tend to be around 9 inches, at least for mature specimens. It does fall close in size for blue whales and probably other large whales.
A dissection of the eye will tell, as cephalopod eyes and mammalian eyes have some differences, such as a lack of a cornea.
My money is on a blue whale eyeball too.
No mention of smell; wouldn’t an actual eyeball turn to smelly jelly in a day or so? To me, it looks like it’s more solid, like cast resin, or whatever. I could be wrong.
Fish. Maybe a tuna or swordfish.
ditto maslo63
I don’t think this is a whale’s eye. It does not look to me like a mammal’s eye, but rather like it came from some sort of fish species. My guess would be not a tuna, but a shark of some sort. I’m rather fond of the large eyed thresher shark hypothesis.
To be more specific, the species I am referring to is the bigeye thresher (Alopias superciliosus). It is found in Florida waters and has really quite amazingly large eyes. Also, the skin that remains around the eye in the photos is a good match for the shark’s coloration, although with decomposition this becomes less certain.
Anyway, fish not mammal, I would say.
I would suggest a medium sized giant squid.
Reportedly solved, belonging to a marlin.
It’s not mysterious in the slightest, folks. It’s a swordfish eye. You can see them on any given day in a fishmarket.
What is different though is that the owner of this eye was a HUGE swordfish ! Most likely the eye became loose after an attack by a mako or similar. Quite how it survived its journey to a beach is interesting. I wonder if it floats ?
Good job to all the people suggesting a fish and not a mammal as the unfortunate owner of this eyeball 🙂
Can we determine the size of the animal based on the diameter of the eye?
The news articles on this eye refer to bone being found around the edge of the eye, so that would eliminate certain species inherently.
Swordfish is being mentioned more as the source of the eyeball, in many of these articles. Cryptozoology again captures the public fascination, despite a busy news season.
Can I use this for a school article?