A forklift has been used to remove an enormous buoy that washed up mysteriously near Cocoa Beach.

The Florida Today reported six men from Beyel Brothers and The Scales Company used a forklift, a crane and a flatbed truck to remove the buoy that had washed ashore near 24th Street, south of Cocoa Beach.

Brevard County's Natural Resources department spokesperson Debbie Cole said attempts to track the buoy's origins had been "definitely special".

The buoy had washed up behind the home of Nihla Trosset.

"I'd sat down to have coffee when I saw it," Trosset said.

"It's been amazing how many people have come down the beach access to check it out."

The buoy is now awaiting an ownership claim in Port Canaveral.