October 12th, 2012 
No doubt you have seen the lonely big eye in the sea story by now. A giant eyeball washed ashore on a Florida beach and then the internet went crazy. So what is it? I emailed Sönke Johnsen a Professor of Biology and colleague of mine at Duke University. Sönke is an expert on everything visual in marine organisms including transparency, cryptic coloration, bioluminescence, ultraviolet protection, and of course vision. He responded
I’m fairly sure it’s just the eye of a large [Xiphiidae or Istiophoridae], likely a swordfish or marlin. They get seriously big, but people don’t realize it because most of the eye is inside the head.
He then went a step further and then emailed a few of his colleagues
talked with some colleagues — definitely a swordfish eye
There you have it. New reports on the eye also mention the presence of bones which obviously rules out the giant squid!
So does this mean I win the internet?
i think its of a squide
giant squid eye is as big as a basketball
it belongs to a dinosaur!
[...] visual in marine organisms” (awesome, right?). Johnsen told McClain the fleshy orb was “definitely a swordfish eye.” And today, researchers at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released their [...]
I think Yes. Amazing eyeball.
[...] visual in marine organisms” (awesome, right?). Johnsen told McClain the fleshy orb was “definitely a swordfish eye.” And today, researchers at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released their [...]
[...] עם סונקה ג’ונסן, מומחה לוויזואליה של אורגניזמים ימיים והוא אמר לו כי העין המסתורית שייכת ללא ספק לדג [...]
It may be alien eye.heheh
[...] é somente um olho de espadarte (popularmente conhecido como [...]
[...] Deep Sea News je naknadno objavila da se definitivno ne radi o oku dubinskih liganja jer su kosti i anatomija oka identični onima od sabljarke Xiphiidae ili Istiophoridae. [...]
[...] a um Espadarte (também conhecido como “peixe-espada”). Quem confirma essa informação é o Deep Sea News, site especializado em vida [...]
I was pretty sure the very first post I saw suggested this was a squid eye–interesting to find out it is really from a marlin or swordfish. It does look like that to me. Very, very cool stuff. Now to solve the rest of the mystery–where is the rest of the fish?
Awesome
You know what people say about Fish with Big Eyeballs?
what do they say?
Are you sure its a sword fish eye. Maybe its a cyclops shark eye, if they are real.
It does look as if it’s from a swordfish. I’ve seen a lot of these fish and I recently happened to take photos of swordfish on a market stall in Catania, Sicily. My photos aren’t uber close up, but I can see that the eyeball above is pretty similar to those on my photos. Must have been a darn big fish though!
If you read midway into the article (and those of you who do, are intelligent of course) you will notice it says:
“New reports on the eye also mention the presence of bones which obviously rules out the giant squid!”
This is not the eye of a giant squid.