HENDRY COUNTY, FL - A Hendry County grower found his crop falling prey to an alligator that either thinks it lost some very large eggs, or is looking to make a fruit salad.

Melons are a hot commodity, it seems, for those with nefarious intentions. As we reported recently, two Japanese farmers found melons missing from their farms. Now Florida has had a turn, with a unique twist. But though there is a photo of the burglar this time, I’m not sure how much it is going to help.

Interestingly enough, alligators apparently do have an affinity for sweet treats.

"That alligator probably has a sweet tooth, and one of the more popular treats for people who illegally feed alligators are marshmallows,” Steve Stiegler, a wildlife biologist in the alligator management program at Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, told CBS News. “Alligators can taste sweet, and somehow this alligator got a taste of a watermelon and he's gone back for more."

While an agricultural officer at the Florida Agricultural Crimes Intelligence Unit, understandably, didn’t want to confront the green thief on his own, he did snap a photo catching the perpetrator in the act that New York Daily News reports has since been shared more than 9,000 times since it was first posted ten days ago.

Full-grown American male gators average about 14 feet long, weighing up to 1,000 pounds, according to the NCPA, and move up to 20 miles per hour. And, because they can live from 35 to 50 years, who knows how experienced this thief was?

Judging by the size of the jaw wrapped around a pretty decent-looking watermelon, which can have the crushing power of 3,000 psi (the maximal chamber pressure of a pistol firing) I, too, probably wouldn’t have pursued.