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Giant eyeball mystery: Softball-sized eyeball washes ashore in Fla.

State wildlife officials are trying to determine the species of a blue eyeball found by a man Wednesday at Pompano Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale.

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Carli Segelson/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/AP
This Oct. 11 photo made available by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shows 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.
  • By Freida Frisaro and Associated Press AP

| MIAMI

It's not that body parts never wash ashore on Florida beaches. But usually they're not an eye the size of a softball.

State wildlife officials are trying to determine the species of a blue eyeball found by a man Wednesday at Pompano Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale.

They put the eyeball on ice so it can be analyzed at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

Agency spokeswoman Carli Segelson says the eyeball likely came from a marine animal, since it was found on a beach. Possible candidates include a giant squid, a whale or some type of large fish.

Word of the eyeball has created a buzz on the Internet and in the marine biology community.

An assistant biology professor at Florida International University in Miami on Friday said the blue eyeball may have come from a deep sea squid or a large swordfish. Heather Bracken-Grissom says she started discussing the eyeball with her colleagues as soon as they saw the pictures on the Internet.

Bracken-Grissom says the lens and pupil are similar to the shape of a deep sea squid's eye. She notes that the squid's eyes can be as large as soccer balls and they easily dislodge.

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