Huge Mysterious Eyeball Washes Up on Florida Shore

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
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Huge Mysterious Eyeball Washes Up on Florida Shore

Eye have no idea what this is.

Picture this: You are strolling along your favorite beach, taking in the serene morning sun with Scruffy, your new and rambunctious corgi puppy. It's Florida, so the autumnal weather hasn't quite put a damper on your early morning ritual. Both you and Scruffy are feeling frisky, so you let him of his leash to run in the waves and poke around in the seaweed. You laugh as Scruffy dashes into the cool green waves, yipping in delight, before sniffing at something in the sand. "What's that you got there, boy?" you might ask before - "Poseidon's Trident, WHAT IS THAT THING?"

[gallery=932]

At least, I imagine that's what happened when someone discovered a huge disembodied eyeball in Pompano Beach, 30 miles north of Miami, yesterday morning. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had officials quickly go to pick up the specimen and posted pictures of the eyeball on its this is what I pictured [https://www.facebook.com/MyFWC] - placed the monstrous eye on ice and promised to perform DNA tests to identify what species it might be from.

Other marine biologists chimed in as to what creature could have such a large optic organ. "It probably is a squid eye - other things with eyes that big (fish, cetaceans) have them embedded in hard tissue. Squid eyes are in relatively soft tissue and more likely to dislodge as in the photo you sent. A quick DNA analysis could easily sort it our for you," said Robert L. Pitman, a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, California.

Not so fast, Pitman. Apparently, there is more to this eye than meets the eye. "There appears to be bones around the eye, so that would rule out a squid. The primary suspect right now is that it would be a large fish," said Carli Segelson from the Florida commission and she was confident the experts would identify the species soon. "I shouldn't say this, but they may be able to eyeball it."

Har de har har, Carli. This is no laughing matter. I'm the only person authorized to make bad fisheye puns here.

Source: National Geographic [http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/12/giant-mysterious-eyeball-found-on-florida-beach/]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/myfwcmedia/sets/72157631747673243/with/8078019170/])

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Scarim Coral

Jumped the ship
Legacy
Oct 29, 2010
18,157
2
3
Country
UK
Eye see what you did there.

Wow that is an sight for sore eye and the eye itself is cetainly eye candy to be put on display in your home!

I really want to know which animal that eye was from.
 

Volstag9

New member
Apr 28, 2008
639
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Eye wonder if it could be a new species?

The ocean is like space. That place is so mysterious you never know what you might find. Nothing is really impossible.
 

Gabanuka

New member
Oct 1, 2009
2,372
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Eye, eye, eye don't understand what eye'm looking it.


Seriously though, this is interesting stuff, I'm guessing Cthulu or marketing stunt.
 

MetallicaRulez0

New member
Aug 27, 2008
2,503
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This is why I don't swim in the ocean. There are things THAT big out there. No thanks. Call me paranoid, don't care. I'm paranoid and safely on shore.
 

Eric the Orange

Gone Gonzo
Apr 29, 2008
3,245
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I'm no marine biologist, but what's the size ratio of eye to body on marine life. I mean whales are enormous but if they have relatively tiny eyes it could be a whale eye.


... eye pun
 

antipunt

New member
Jan 3, 2009
3,035
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Not so fast, Pitman. Apparently, there is more to this eye than meets the eye
>_>

*slow clap

slightly off topic, I want a Corgi puppy named Scruffy... ;_;
 

bliebblob

Plushy wrangler, die-curious
Sep 9, 2009
719
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As a future biologist, my money is on squid. They have highly developed huge eyes that look a lot like a human's.

EDIT: read the whole article now and I guess I was wrong. But in my defence, I'm pretty sure you can't know about the bone thing just from looking at pictures. Hence why all the professionals also guessed squid.
 

Nurb

Cynical bastard
Dec 9, 2008
3,078
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That must be one big fuckin fish if it's got bones in it!

It looks so perfect though... are we sure this isn't a marketing thing?
 

ritchards

Non-gamer in a gaming world
Nov 20, 2009
641
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Solved! It's a sword fish eye.

http://deepseanews.com/2012/10/solved-where-did-the-big-eye-in-the-sea-come-from/
 

Hazy992

Why does this place still exist
Aug 1, 2010
5,265
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ritchards said:
Solved! It's a sword fish eye.

http://deepseanews.com/2012/10/solved-where-did-the-big-eye-in-the-sea-come-from/
Well that's clearly just a coverup. It's obviously some sort of cyclops that 'The Man' doesn't want us knowing about. They'll be telling us it's a weather balloon next! ;)
 

Xan Krieger

Completely insane
Feb 11, 2009
2,918
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If that's the eye I really wanna see the fish it came from. If it's a swordfish then that's one monster fish.