{"id":626565,"date":"2026-04-23T21:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626565\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:54:14","slug":"giant-octopus-was-a-top-predator-100-million-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626565\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant octopus was a top predator 100 million years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Giant octopuses<\/a> measuring up to 62 feet (19 meters) in length were among the top ocean predators<\/a> around 100 million years ago, according to new research that uncovered rare fossils hidden within solid rock.\n <\/p>\n

\n Remarkably well-preserved specimens of the octopuses\u2019 powerful jaws show signs of intense wear from crushing hard prey including shells and bones, a study published in the journal Science<\/a> on Thursday reports.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis suggests that these giant octopuses may have functioned as apex predators in the Cretaceous sea,\u201d study coauthor Yasuhiro Iba, an associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Japan\u2019s Hokkaido University, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe were surprised. The fossil record of octopuses is extremely limited, so finding animals this large and ecologically important in the Cretaceous ocean was beyond our expectations,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The extinct animals, scientifically named Nanaimoteuthis, were about 23 to 62 feet (7 to 19 meters) in length. The researchers estimated their overall size by extrapolating from the size of the beak specimens.\n <\/p>\n

\n The colossal creatures were among the earliest finned octopuses, which have paddle-shaped fins on their heads, in the scientific record, according to the study.\n <\/p>\n

\n Iba explained that octopuses rarely fossilize because most of their bodies are soft, with only a few hard parts like the jaws likely to be preserved after they die. The scientists conducted a fresh analysis of 15 huge jaw fossils previously found in Japan and Canada\u2019s Vancouver Island. But the researchers didn\u2019t stop there.\n <\/p>\n

\n The team also unearthed 12 fossilized octopus jaws encased in sedimentary rock from the Cretaceous Period, dating back 100 million to 72 million years. The study authors found the specimens by using a 3D-imaging technique called grinding tomography to create high-resolution datasets, and an AI model, according to the study.\n <\/p>\n

\n Iba described the method as a \u201cdigital fossil mining\u201d approach, which produced 3D models of the jaw fossils.\n <\/p>\n

\n During the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops and velociraptor dominated the land.\n <\/p>\n

\n And until now, vertebrate predators such as large marine reptiles, sharks and fishes were thought to have commanded the seas, Iba said, but the fossils hint that octopuses may also have occupied the top of the food web.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis indicates that Cretaceous marine ecosystems were more complex and included a wider range of top predators than previously thought,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWithin this ecosystem, Nanaimoteuthis likely used its large body and long arms to capture prey, and its powerful jaws to process hard food,\u201d Iba added. \u201cLike modern octopuses, it may have relied on intelligence to find, capture and consume its prey.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n Iba now plans to expand digital fossil mining, which he believes can help to uncover organisms that were previously undetectable in the fossil record.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur goal is to reveal the hidden players of ancient ecosystems and build a much more complete picture of how past ecosystems really worked,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tim Coulson, professor of zoology at the University of Oxford, England, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that \u201cthe work in the paper is compelling and exciting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThese animals would have been feeding on other animals, and they could have crunched through bones of large fish and possibly marine reptiles, as well as shells. Their size suggests they were an apex predator, sat at the top of the food chain,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe authors argue that asymmetrical patterns of wear on the octopuses\u2019 jaws points to evidence of intelligence,\u201d Coulson added. \u201cAlthough plausible, it is not possible to say quite how smart these animals were.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Jakob Vinther, associate professor of macroevolution at the University of Bristol, England, who was also not involved in the study, said the research rests on \u201ca pretty amazing find.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n However, he argued that the fossil does not definitively prove that Nanaimoteuthis was an apex predator that would have hunted and eaten some of the large marine reptiles with which it would have shared the ocean.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe question is whether it would make sense for an animal like this to take down such big prey,\u201d Vinther said.\n <\/p>\n

\n It would have taken the octopuses a long time to break down and ingest large animals, and they could have met their energetic needs by feeding on relatively small prey, he explained.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t take away from the fact that these were most likely formidable predators and probably a significant predator towards certain larger-bodied prey that existed back then,\u201d Vinther said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sign up for CNN\u2019s Wonder Theory science newsletter<\/a>. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giant octopuses measuring up to 62 feet (19 meters) in length were among the top ocean predators around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-626565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}