Anonymousabout 3 hours ago
A study published in Science in April 2026 describes 27 fossilized octopus jaws from the Late Cretaceous (100–72 million years ago), reclassifying the genus Nanaimoteuthis as the oldest known finned octopus and estimating body lengths of up to 19 meters — potentially making it the largest invertebrate ever described. The findings challenge the longstanding assumption that only vertebrates occupied apex predator roles in Cretaceous oceans, though some paleontologists caution that the maximum size estimates extrapolated from jaw fossils alone may be overstated.