Not massive sharks or snakes: This 62 feet tall 'kraken' octopus was the real terror of the dinosaur‑era oceans

Folklore has been the brewing pot of legends often giving asylum to giant sea monsters that engulf and pull down sea vessels, wrecking them.Similarly, colossal creatures have always been a subject of mystery for the curious and a topic of study for science, helping us understand the environment millions of years ago.These giant beasts roamed the Earth and lived in bizarre environments, doing the unimaginable for the smaller versions of the massive ones in the past.Recently, scientists discovered evidence of a colossal “kraken‑like” octopus that lived alongside dinosaurs and may have been one of the top predators in the oceans about 100 million years ago.These ancient creatures were unearthed from fossilised jaw remains and could be the largest invertebrates ever described. Until now, marine apex predators of the Cretaceous period were thought to be mainly large vertebrates such as mosasaurs, sharks and other marine reptiles. This new research suggests that giant octopuses were also playing a major role at the top of the food chain, competing with and possibly even preying on some of these fearsome reptiles.Researchers have found that two new species of ancient finned octopuses, Nanaimoteuthis haggarti and Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi, lived in the Late Cretaceous seas roughly between 100 and 72 million years ago.By studying the size and structure of fossilised jaws, scientists have estimated that N. haggarti could have grown to about 19 metres long, around 62 feet, making it comparable in length to a sperm whale, according to analysis published in the journal Science.According to the study team, these dimensions suggest that the animals “may represent the largest invertebrates thus described, rivalling contemporaneous giant marine reptiles.” This means that while dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops ruled the land, enormous octopuses could have been among the dominant hunters in the oceans.The most important clue that these octopuses were fearsome predators comes from the wear on their fossil jaws. Scientists from Hokkaido University, who led the research, wrote in the Science paper that the “extensive wear suggests dynamic crushing of hard skeletons,” meaning the animals routinely crushed shells and bones.The researchers explained that the long scratch‑marks across the jaw surfaces show “the dynamic use of the entire jaw for dismantling prey,” and that one side of the jaw edges was worn down, indicating these octopuses chewed more from one side. They added that such patterns hint that “the earliest octopuses already possessed advanced intelligence,” similar to how modern octopuses handle food with precision.