back to article Boffins baffled: HUGE EYEBALL washes up on Florida beach

A Florida beachcomber has discovered what appears to be a huge eyeball washed up on the beach, and experts are stumped as to what kind of sea creature it came from. eye Eye, eye, what's all this then? Local resident Gino Covacci found the giant eyeball washed up at the high-tide mark of Pompano Beach on the southeast tip …

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  1. The Alpha Klutz

    i wish i had an eye like that

    awesome

  2. tkioz
    FAIL

    Can't be Sauron, everyone knows his eye is red not blue!

    1. Ian Michael Gumby
      Alien

      He wears contacts.

      Its really just a reminder that our Alien overlords also have to watch out that even their big brother is watching over you too.

  3. 7-zark-7
    Coat

    Are they very sure it isn't a speaker?

    That is all

  4. Jared Vanderbilt

    Promotional gimmick for Apple's new iBall touch. A pointless device created solely for the purpose of patenting the circle.

    1. pete 22

      apple gimmick?

      you ball touch?

      eewww

      1. Ian McNee
        Stop

        Re: apple gimmick?

        pete: you're a bloke and you're saying you DON'T ball touch??

        Unfortunately it seems that Apple might be doing it again: getting us to part with our hard-earned for something that we don't really need as there is already a perfectly good (and free in this case) non-electronic method of achieving the same result, i.e. a satisfying ball-scratch.

      2. phuzz Silver badge
        Boffin

        Re: apple gimmick?

        That's right Pete, you should do more than just touch your balls, you should have a regular check for testicular cancer.

        /publicserviceannouncement

        we now return you to your regularly scheduled snark.

  5. Martin Budden Silver badge
    Alien

    Dalek!

    That is clearly a Dalek eye... where is the missing rest of the Dalek?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Dalek!

      "That is clearly a Dalek eye... where is the missing rest of the Dalek?"

      Relax, Daleks are useless without their eye. More importantly, did it come alone?

      1. Steve Evans

        Re: Dalek!

        "Relax, Daleks are useless without their eye. More importantly, did it come alone?"

        Hmmm, I'm still not going to risk going near the plunger.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: That is clearly a Dalek eye

      Don't be silly. Dalek I were from Liverpool

  6. mr. deadlift
    Devil

    i'd be more concerned about what gouged it out rather than who it belonged to.

    1. jai

      there is, as Qui-Gon Jinn once said, always a bigger fish...

      1. jubtastic1
        Thumb Down

        Down voted for reminding me

        That Lucas never did get around to making those prequels.

        1. Magnus_Pym

          Re: Down voted for reminding me

          That Lucas threaten even more of those films. The quality of which is the square root of the one before

          1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

            Re: Down voted for reminding me

            "The quality of which is the square root of the one before"

            Given the 'quality' of the existing three prequels, I'd say that would have to be an imaginary number.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      Possibly...

      A giant squid verses another giant squid or a whale.

      Whales get big suction marks on their sides from such fights. So it's not impossible one got sucked right out. That or wailing operations dropped something overboard.

      1. Chemist
        Headmaster

        Re: Possibly...

        "That or wailing operations dropped something overboard."

        I bet they howled about that !

    3. Tom 38
      Alert

      Evidently came from a Giant Octopus, the attacker was a Mega Shark

      1. Steve Evans

        Sure it wasn't a shark with a laser?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          that's "frikkin laser"...

    4. Euripides Pants
      Thumb Up

      what gouged it

      Mega Shark finally killed the Giant Octopus!

      or maybe Giant Octopus won...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Davros?

    Could it be Dalek in origin? Or even a whale?

  8. NomNomNom

    verrry fishaye

  9. Suricou Raven

    I can tell them.

    Cut, remove sample of retina, stain, place under microscope. The construction of the retina in squid is very different from that of vertebrates. Doesn't even need any advanced genetic study - any secondary school science technician has access to the equipment and training. If experts are stumped, clearly no expert has examined it in detail.

    I imagine someone more knowledgeable about comparative ocular anatomy could identify a mollusc eye without needing to cut it, just by shining a light in and looking around.

    1. wowfood

      Re: I can tell them.

      More likely a case of the question being asked on arrival.

      "I found an eyeball, what is it?"

      "I don't know, could be a squid, could be a swordfish, we'll need to run s..."

      "OMG AN EYE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN, GET THE PAPERS QUICKLY!!!"

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. The Indomitable Gall

      Re: I can tell them.

      I thought the difference between vertebrate and invertebrate eyes was immediately visible -- aren't all the nerves on the outside of an invertebrate eye, making it non-spherical, whereas our nerves went inside to make a better curve and therefore make the eye socket possible?

      1. Tom 7

        Re: I can tell them.

        No - our eyes have the nerves on the inside with the rodsnstuff the wrong way round so god can test your faith.

  10. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

    The problem with losing an eye..

    .. is that you need as many eyes as possible to look for it.

    I'm not sure how critical eyesight is to something that large, but there is a chance that this animal will eventually show up floating belly up - I suspect removing an eye that size will have involved a serious amount of violence and fighting.

    I'd keep an eye out..

    1. thejackle

      Re: The problem with losing an eye..

      Or a Japanese "Research" Vessel

  11. Khaptain Silver badge

    Just of the Florida Keys

    Jack Sprat a local sporty big fish game hunter managed to land a very large fish on his lovely powerboat.

    The big fish was deeply annoyed at having been caught and started to flail wildy about on the back of the boat, it's tail actually managed to knock Jack Sprats plastic beer containter into the ocean.

    Jack Sprat having seen this shouted angrilly at the big fish "If you don't stop flailing about I am going to poke you in the eye with this boat hook".

    No further explanation required.

  12. Mako

    Excellent. Now I have something with which to replace the screaming clowns in my nightmares.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mystery?

    It's clearly Patrick Moore's

  14. Skizz

    Obvious really...

    ...there's an island populated with scientist, artists and clairvoyants where they're genetically engineering a bug eyed monster and this is one of the early attempts.

    1. Isendel Steel
      Happy

      Re: Obvious really...

      upvote for The Watchmen reference..

      1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        Re: Obvious really...

        Of course, the graphic novel, not the film!

  15. Colin Brett
    Mushroom

    R'lyeh

    I thought "dead Cthulhu lies dreaming" beneath the Pacific? Florida seems an awfully long way for the eye to drift. Unless it went through the Panama Canal.

    Nuke icon because the Great C can survive the blast!

    Colin

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Stop

      Re: R'lyeh

      Nuke icon because the Great C can survive the blast!

      ISTR that someone asked the question; "What happens if you nuke Cthulu?" in a gaming magazine Q&A column once.

      The answer given was a detailed working out of the damage inflicted by a decent sized thermonuclear warhead and some calculation to show that it would then take Cthulu about 0.5 seconds to regenerate from it. The result being that about half a second after the dust settles, he's back, as dangerous as ever, extremely pissed off with you and lethally radioactive as a bonus, just in case you weren't quite fucked enough already.

      Top tip: Do not try this at home.

      1. John 62

        Re: R'lyeh

        But what if you inscribed a +3 rune of great smiting on the side of the nuke when you trade in your XP from the last session?

      2. Suricou Raven

        Re: R'lyeh

        This invites the question, what would it take to one-hit-kill Cuthulu? If a regular thermonuke isn't enough. Antimatter bomb? De-orbit the moon atop him? Supernova at point-blank?

        Might be better to fire up the LHC and tell the operators to configure it for 'black hole.' If we're going down, we're taking him with us.

        1. TeeCee Gold badge

          Re: R'lyeh

          The problem isn't doing the damage, the conventional nuke will vapourise the bugger quite comprehensively. The fly in the ointment is the fact that he's bleedin' immortal and regenerates damage rather rapidly, so killing him outright only has a temporary effect.

          The only answer is binding or imprisonment, so you may be on to something with the black hole idea.....

  16. Spider

    F'thagn

    As if Great Cthulhu would lose an eye to anyone!

    however.

    startling resemblance

    http://news.discovery.com/earth/squid-eye-on-the-lookout-120316.html

  17. Crisp

    The giant eye

    It *never* blinks!

  18. Christoph

    Or it could be ...

    The crabs built it to look back at the Eyeball In The Sky

    1. Isendel Steel
      Headmaster

      Re: Or it could be ...

      upvote - but I believe it was "Eyeballs"

      1. Ted Treen
        Pint

        Re: Or it could be ...

        ...and your memory earns you The Order of the Boot.

        1. Sorry, "Sorry that handle is already taken" is already taken.
          Go

          Re: Or it could be ...

          Wouldn't the construction of something so massive risk rending the fabric of the pooliverse?

        2. Neil Barnes Silver badge
          Pint

          Re: Or it could be ...

          Oh, *kudos*, sir.

          Have an inch-thick tomato ketchup sarnie.

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