A giant eyeball the size of a grapefruit was thrown by the sea onto Pompano Beach in the north of the resort town of Fort Lauderdale in Florida, USA. He was found last Wednesday by a local named Gino Covacci. American experts are still unable to determine which creature this body belongs to, writes the Florida newspaper The Sun Sentinel.
Gino Kovacci stumbled upon an unexpected find during his morning run. He told the publication that he noticed a strange blue ball on the high tide and at first just kicked it, and then looked closely and realized what it was. What he saw clearly stood out from the row of seashells, seaweed and cigarette butts he usually found on the beach.
According to him, the eyeball was the largest he had ever seen, looked very fresh and was still bleeding when he placed it in a plastic bag. Kovacci took it home, put it in the refrigerator, and reported the find to a police officer who gave him the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's phone number. No one could tell at once which species of fish the organ was found.
The members of the Commission put their eyeballs on ice. It will be stored in formalin for analysis at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, located in St. Petersburg.
The waters of South Florida are replete with species of fairly large fish and mammals, one of which can "swim with an eye patch." These are, for example, swordfish, tuna, sharks and whales. Giant squids also have huge eyes that help them navigate at great depths, where there is very little light.
Charles Messing, a lecturer at the New Oceanographic Center of Southeastern University, admitted that at first he did not rule out the possibility that it could be the eyeball of a giant squid, but after examining various sea creatures, he is inclined to think that the most likely candidate is a swordfish. The widespread use of swordfish in South Florida is enabling commercial and recreational fishing to develop.
Identifying a species of large fish may take time, but scientists hope to shorten it.