
Ancient 19-meter octopuses crushed bones in Cretaceous seas, study finds
Fossil beak analysis reveals giant Cretaceous octopuses up to about 19 m long that crushed bones and shells with powerful jaws, possibly rivaling mosasaurs in the oceans. Nanaimoteuthis haggarti may be the largest known invertebrate, with wear patterns and lateralization indicating sophisticated predation. Researchers reclassified several beaks and uncovered additional specimens (12 more beaks from 72–100 million-year-old rocks) using digital imaging, reshaping views of the Cretaceous marine ecosystem. Findings published in Science.













