![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Size-comparison-of-N.-haggarti-to-its-contemporaneous-competitors-credit-Hokkaido-University.webp.webp\")
Size comparison of N. haggarti to its contemporaneous competitors \u2013 credit, Hokkaido University<\/p>\n Size comparison of N. haggarti to its contemporaneous competitors \u2013 credit, Hokkaido University<\/p>\n
The kraken: a giant squid or octopus of myth, seems to have swam in the Cretaceous oceans, a Japanese study shows.<\/p>\n
Recovering a selection of truly revolutionary fossils from sediments in Japan and Vancouver Island, the researchers present a prehistoric octopus that could grow as long as 60 feet, and use its powerful jaws to grind bones.<\/p>\n
Fossil evidence of cephalopods like octopuses is extremely difficult to gather because their soft bodies deteriorate quickly, having just 1 single bone that can remain to be fossilized.<\/p>\n
Using a technique they termed \u201cdigital fossil mining,\u201d researchers at the University of Hokkaido applied high-resolution grinding tomography to look within sedimentary rock samples from the Cretaceous period before subjecting the images to an artificial intelligence model that could exquisitely map the fossils they contained.<\/p>\n
Those fossils were the beak and lower jaw of a creature called Nanaimoteuthis,\u00a0the largest species of which\u00a0Nanaimoteuthis\u00a0haggarti,\u00a0grew to sizes between 23 and 62 feet in length. These truly colossal invertebrates used their beaks to grind up shells and bones as evidenced by the substantial amount of wear on the largest fossil the team found, which correlated with a 62-foot body length and would have placed it beyond any of the formidable marine reptiles like mosasaurs and plesiosaurs that shared the ocean with it.<\/p>\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 study coauthor Yasuhiro Iba, an associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Japan\u2019s Hokkaido University, told CNN.<\/a> \u201cLike modern octopuses, it may have relied on intelligence to find, capture and consume its prey.\u201d<\/p>\n The giant squid of our oceans today, stretching 30 feet in length and bearing 3 inch jaws, is the largest invertebrate living or extinct that\u2019s known to science.\u00a0N. Haggarti\u00a0wielded jaws around 150% larger, and could be 23 feet longer. Its discovery also places it as the oldest Cirrata, or finned octopus. The fins itself would be as wide as an average man is tall.<\/p>\n In their study<\/a>, the authors hypothesize that the animal, like modern octopuses, was intelligent, as evidenced by asymmetric wear on its beak, though some scientists who weren\u2019t involved with the study said to CNN that this claim requires more evidence.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Nanaimoteuthis-haggarti-fossil-that-was-used-to-calculate-the-60-foot-body-length-credit-Hokkaid.jpeg\")
The Nanaimoteuthis haggarti fossil that was used to calculate the 60 foot body length \u2013 credit Hokkaido University<\/p>\n