Release the Kraken: 60-Foot Octopuses Predators 100 Million Years Ago, Fossils Shows
- A new Science paper identifies two extinct finned octopus species, Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and Nanaimoteuthis haggarti, that lived between 100 million and 72 million years ago as apex predators in Cretaceous oceans.
- Hokkaido University researchers identified 12 of 27 total octopus jaw fossils using 'digital fossil mining,' a technique applying high-resolution grinding tomography and artificial intelligence to visualize fossils hidden within sedimentary rock samples.
- One species, N. haggarti, may have reached 62 feet, rivaling mosasaurs in size; heavy jaw wear amounting to about 10 percent of total jaw length indicates these colossal predators crushed hard shells and bones.
- These findings revise the view of the Cretaceous ocean as dominated only by large vertebrate predators. Professor Yasuhiro Iba of Hokkaido University said, "They show that giant invertebrates—octopuses—also occupied the top of the food web."
- Asymmetric wear patterns on jaw fossils suggest the octopuses displayed brain lateralization, a trait linked to advanced intelligence, though some scientists say this claim requires more evidence.
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Invertebrates climbed to the top of the marine food chain and competed with the large vertebrates 100 million years ago.
60-Foot ‘Kraken’ Octopus Rivaled Top Ocean Predators
Giant Pacific octopus. Credit: Azchael / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0 Ancient oceans were dominated by powerful predators, but new evidence suggests a giant octopus may have rivaled them at the top of the food chain. Marine reptiles like mosasaurs once ruled these waters, yet researchers now point to another formidable hunter lurking in the deep. Scientists have identified a species called Nanaimoteuthis haggarti, described as a 60-foot “kraken” of the…
Not just folklore: A giant kraken-like octopus terrorized the seas in the age of dinosaurs
The giant kraken, a mythical marine beast, may not be entirely fiction. New evidence suggests that octopuses up to 62 feet long likely roamed the waters of ancient Earth, ripping and devouring prey in their path.Monster under the seaThese gigantic octopuses might have been formidable predators of the ocean approximately 100 million years ago, according to a study published in the journal Science. “With their large bodies, long arms, powerful jaw…
The Cretaceous oceans may have been populated by octopus 7 to 19 metres long. This is suggested by a Japanese scientific study, which studied the jaws of these distant ancestors of the octopus. These predators then occupied the top of the underwater food chain. - Predators 19 metres long: when the ancestors of the octopus reigned over the oceans (Sciences).
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