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Giant Finned Cretaceous Octopuses Show Lateralized Feeding

4/25/2026

Summary

Researchers Uncover Octopuses

Researchers at Hokkaido University reported that giant finned octopuses inhabited Late Cretaceous seas 100 million to 72 million years ago.
Two species, Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. haggarti, were identified from fossil beaks recovered in Japan and Vancouver Island.
N. haggarti measured 6.6 to 19 metres, with beak wear showing rounded tips, chips and scratches from crushing hard shells and bones.
One-sided jaw wear suggests lateralized feeding, a behavior linked to higher brain complexity.

Summary

Iba Unveils Kraken

The Cretaceous octopus discovery has ignited public fascination by linking the ancient creature to the legendary Kraken of Norse folklore.
Zoologist Fernando Ángel Fernández-Álvarez of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography said its sheer size reshapes expectations of ancient cephalopods.
Lead researcher Yasuhiro Iba, whose Japanese-Canadian team used fossils from Japan and Vancouver Island, plans to apply the digital-fossil-mining method to other soft-bodied organisms to map Cretaceous marine ecosystems.

Summary

Iba Dates Giant

The study dates the giant octopus N. haggarti to about 86 million years ago, marking the Cretaceous cephalopod size peak.
Researchers used fossil beak sizes to estimate N. jeletzkyi at 3–8 m and N. haggarti at 7–19 m, creating a Late Cretaceous growth curve.
Fossils from Japan and Vancouver Island show these octopuses had a pan-Pacific range, with lead author Yasuhiro Iba noting their shell loss mirrors armor reduction in mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.

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Researchers Uncover Octopuses

Researchers at Hokkaido University reported that giant finned octopuses inhabited Late Cretaceous seas 100 million to 72 million years ago.
Two species, Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. haggarti, were identified from fossil beaks recovered in Japan and Vancouver Island.
N. haggarti measured 6.6 to 19 metres, with beak wear showing rounded tips, chips and scratches from crushing hard shells and bones.
One-sided jaw wear suggests lateralized feeding, a behavior linked to higher brain complexity.

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