#octopuses

#octopuses

"Before this study, Cretaceous marine ecosystems were generally understood as worlds in which large vertebrate predators occupied the top of the food web. Our study changes that picture," said Yasuhiro Iba.

The analysis grouped the krakens into two species: Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. haggarti, and discovered that they belong to the same evolutionary group as modern dumbo octopuses.

An analysis of fossil jaws belonging to octopuses that lived between 100 million and 72 million years ago shows that these creatures may have been the largest animals in the sea and smart to boot, rivaling sharks and marine reptiles in their powers of predation.