Photo: Christine Dell'Amore
That blob in a jar used to belong to a giant squid. That's right, you're looking at the eyeball of a giant squid looking right back at you!
Chris Mah of the National Museum of Natural History's Department of Invertebrate Zoology gave the tour:
The largest invertebrate, giant squid—along with their kin the colossal squid—also have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, which measure some 10 inches (25 centimeters) wide. The massive organs allow them to detect objects—like a hungry sperm whale—in the ocean depths. Peering close into the jar, the eyeball didn’t look all that different than ours, white with a round black pupil at the center.
Christine Dell'Amore of National Geographic News has the post: Link (Don't miss the video clip about Chris talking about the giant isopod!)