How horrifying, OP. I can see why you were upset. A google search for “chicken eyeballs” was, erm, fruitless- but that’s my guess. Especially if they have a deli. Maybe they ran out of styrofoam trays and borrowed some from the meat department.
I’ve dissected cow’s eyes. They’re freakin huge, and they don’t look like that at all.
I’ve also worked in a place where people made artificial eyes (true. And weird). They don’t look like your picture, either, and they don’t have spongy parts on the back – the6y look remarkably like real eyeballs, right down to little red veins in the “white”. They’re made of Delrin (acetal) plastic, which is tough stuff (they make K’nex toys out of them. Also the white “hub” in a can opener).
I don’t know what the thing in the picture is, but it shouldn’t be in watermelon.
Does anyone else think that it looks like the top of a blueberry?
Yeah, that’s a possibility. Big blueberry, split by a knife/cutter, and worse for wear after sitting around for a while.
My recollection of most eyes that I’m aware of is that the pupil should be dilated (large) after death due to muscle relaxation, and that, if taken as an eye, appears to have an almost pinprick-sized pupil.
Based upon the size of it, I’m gonna say: human.
This should be turned over to the police.
The back side does look a bit like a blueberry top. The other pix do not. Also, comparing it to the OP’s hand, it’s much too large to be (part of) a blueberry.
I agree the front side looks eye-ish. But I’d sooner beleive we’re looking at the top of some other fruit where the stem attaches. The thing you think is a pupil is the stem attach point. What we’ve got here is something like the top of a large grape which has been marinating in watermelon juice for a couple weeks before the OP found it. That would explain the organic tissue-like feel. Almost anything artificial would be a very different consistency.
OP: regardless of how disgusting (or not) you find this thing, it isn’t going to hurt you. If it was ever part of any animal or plant, the only way it could harm you was if it was rotten & gave you some generic food poisoning. Which you’d already have experienced last night.
It does make a very convincing pupil, but I can see it could be a fruit.
Only one way to be sure… TASTE TEST!
LSLGuy, good catch on the chance that it’s part of a grape. I’ve seen coloration patterns on grapes that would resemble what’s shown in the pictures.
The ring on the top of the object looks a lot like the top of a blueberry (note the flaps surrounding the ring). The containers of blueberries I’ve purchased lately did contain some berries that were the size of small grapes.
I thought smooshed grape on seeing a couple of the pictures. Which seems a lot more likely to be on a watermelon slice than an eyeball. I mean, an eyeball that size would belong to something near human sized, not a rat or anything.
Even if it was an eyeball, it wouldn’t hurt you. Worst case it gives you food poisoning (like an undercooked burger or potato salad left out too long), and that’s even unlikely given the small size. It’s not like eyes are any more toxic than, say, intestines. And you’ve probably eaten sausage with natural casing and survived.
I think you might have nailed it. The OP’s pic looks a good match for that, but with the skin turned inside out (so the concave part is actually the outside of the blueberry). The colour looks a good match, too.
The only thing that makes me wonder is the vein-like structures on the “front” of the mystery object, which if this theory is correct would correspond to the inside of the blueberry skin. Do blueberries have veins on the inside of the skin?
If you are queasy about eyes in your produce, steer clear of the potato section.
mmm
Here is a picture of the inside of a fresh blueberry, near the crown. I couldn’t scrape away the fruit without creating an unrecognizable mess. Even when fresh, it is rather eye-like in appearance.
(The plate doesn’t really look that bad…the ‘task lighting’ is just highlighting all the little scratches.)
Grape was my impression too.
Maybe I should get some contact lenses that look like that for the next zombiecon.
Thanks for the much better pictures.
Based on these, I would say it is very unlikely it is an eye, or any part of one.
In this cross section of an eye, note that the iris and cornea belong to different layers of the eye. The iris should be attached to the sclera, not the cornea.
If this represented an iris attached to sclera, then the “pupil” should be empty, with no membrane across it. If it included the cornea, a “layered” appearance would be evident.
The hypothesis that it is a piece of fruit skin seems possible to me.
Bingo. Pretty much a perfect match to this pic, if you allow for a little “marinating time”: http://whatthebeans.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/cimg4372.jpg
The pattern of pale “veins” looks very similar.
Thank you so much, Jeep’s Phoenix. I’m going to sleep better tonight believing it was a blueberry.
I am curious:
Why did you go to the trouble of staging this pic with a new plate of watermelon? Presumably this is new watermelon, because you took the old watermelon back?
Did you eat this plate of watermelon or throw it away?
A demonic possessed blueberry.
Band name.