Did the Legendary Monster "Kraken" Really Exist?...19-Meter Octopus Fossil Discovered

Hokkaido University Research Team Publishes Study

Inhabited the Cretaceous Seas... Apex Predator in the Food Chain

A research study has suggested that the legendary sea monster, the giant octopus known as the 'Kraken,' may have actually existed during the Late Cretaceous period.

According to Yonhap News Agency on April 23, Dr. Shin Ikegami and Associate Professor Yasuhiro Iba, researchers in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Hokkaido University in Japan, published a paper on such cephalopod mollusks in the academic journal Science.

Giant Octopus Imaginary Drawing. Hokkaido University, Yonhap News Agency

The research team analyzed 27 fossilized beaks discovered on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, and in Japan. Cephalopod mollusks like octopuses lack bones and have soft bodies, making fossilization difficult. However, their beaks, composed of hard chitin, were well preserved. The analysis revealed that these fossils belonged to two primary species. One of these, 'Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi,' was estimated to have had a body length of 3 to 8 meters. The other species was much larger, with individual lengths (including both the body and arms) estimated from at least 7 meters up to as much as 19 meters.

The largest living mollusk today, the giant squid, reaches a maximum length of 13 meters, making this giant octopus the largest invertebrate ever known to science. This enormous octopus is believed to have been an apex predator in the marine food chain during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 100 million to 72 million years ago. Fossilized beaks of this ancient octopus show distinct scratch marks and signs of wear, indicating that it was a carnivore that used its beak to break open not only fish but also marine reptiles and ammonites with hard bones and shells.

In particular, the research team explained that this giant octopus likely exhibited 'lateralized' behavior, preferentially using limbs on a specific side—a trait that suggests a high level of intelligence. The authors of the paper have given this cephalopod the scientific name 'Nanaimoteuthis haggarti.' According to the researchers, these octopuses may have disappeared during the mass extinction event that occurred around 66 million years ago.

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