Story perspectives

Giant 19-Meter Cretaceous Octopuses Show Apex Predation, Cognition

4/24/2026

Summary

Researchers Reveal Giants

Researchers announced that giant Cretaceous octopuses up to 19 metres long were apex predators.
The team identified two species—Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and the larger N. haggarti—estimated at 7–19 metres in length.
Researchers reclassified fifteen known jaws and uncovered twelve new ones through digital fossil-mining.
Wear patterns indicate frequent crushing of shells, bones and large crustaceans and suggest lateralized feeding that implies advanced cognition.

Summary

Lee Demands Beak

Professor Lee Yung-nam of Seoul National University said the paper should replace “jaw” with “beak” because the structures differ.
He explained that an octopus beak is an exoskeletal, tooth-less structure, unlike vertebrate jaws which are skeletal and bear teeth.
Lee noted Korea lacks Cretaceous marine sediments, so fossils of ammonites, mosasaurs or octopus beaks have never been found there, limiting Korean contributions to that marine fossil record.

1 of 2

Researchers Reveal Giants

Researchers announced that giant Cretaceous octopuses up to 19 metres long were apex predators.
The team identified two species—Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and the larger N. haggarti—estimated at 7–19 metres in length.
Researchers reclassified fifteen known jaws and uncovered twelve new ones through digital fossil-mining.
Wear patterns indicate frequent crushing of shells, bones and large crustaceans and suggest lateralized feeding that implies advanced cognition.

1 / 2