A giant eyeball that washed up on the shore of a Florida beach has been identified by scientists as that belonging to a sea creature, and none other than a swordfish.

Scientists stated that straight-line slashes found on the "softball-sized orb" suggest that the eye was cut out of the fish's head by a fisherman and then tossed overboard, NBC reported.

"Experts on site and remotely have viewed and analyzed the eye, and based on its color, size and structure, along with the presence of bone around it, we believe the eye came from a swordfish," said Joan Herrera, curator of collections at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., according to the news release for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The strange eye was found by a beachcomber at Pompano Beach on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The person that found it decided to give the eye to the FWC.

Kevin Baxter, a spokesperson for the FWC, said that the situation has "definitely been unusual."

The Florida beach eye resembles those found on giant squids, which the Smithsonian has for display, so many believed from the start that it belonged to a large fish.

When first found, the eye was put on ice and officials sent it to St. Petersburg, Fla., in order to be examined by the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. According to Carli Segelson, a spokesperson for the scientists conducting the examination, genetic testing was going to be applied to find out what creature the eye belonged to.

National Geographic interviewed marine biologist Robert L. Pitman, from the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, Calif., last week.

In Pitman's opinion: "It probably is a squid eye - other things with eyes that big (fish, cetaceans) have them imbedded 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 out for you."

On Oct. 15, MSNBC stated that generic testing was still being conducted, in order to confirm the swordfish hypothesis.