World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

This Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 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.  (AP Photo/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Carli Segelson)

Word that a giant eyeball washed up on a Florida beach 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.

A beach-goer found it Wednesday in Pompano Beach.

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.

Florida wildlife officials have sent it to a research facility in St. Petersburg for testing.