Perhaps they were the ones who dominated the ancient oceans 100 million years ago. At that time, dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. But the kings of the sea could have been others. For example, the 19 meter giant octopus.
Some of the first octopuses were allegedly powerful predators. They had strong arms for catching prey and beak-shaped jaws for crushing the shells and bones of other animals. A study was carried out on extraordinarily well-preserved jaws, published in the journal Science. It suggests that these animals reached up to 19 meters. They would be the largest invertebrates ever known to science.
giant monsters
Invertebrates such as octopuses and squid were believed to play secondary roles in the food chain. Scientists at HokkaidÅ University in Japan question this idea. They analyzed fossil jaws of giant octopuses. These glided through the oceans with the ability to chew the hard shells and skeletons of large fish and marine reptiles.
The study estimates a body length of around 1.5 to 4.5 meters. When including the long arms, it reaches a total length of between about 7 and about 19 meters. The animal would have been enormous compared to today's standards.
Modern octopuses are known for their intelligence, problem-solving abilities, and complex hunting strategies. The giant Pacific octopus is the largest species alive today. It can have an arm span of more than 5.5 meters. They can take on sharks over a meter in length. With their tentacles and suction cups they could perfectly hold such an animal. However, many questions still remain. Scientists can only guess about the exact shape of the animals, the size of the fins or the speed at which they could swim.
Fearsome
And no fossils with stomach contents have yet been found that offer direct evidence of what they ate. It is believed that they fed mainly on ammonites. But, like the modern octopus, they would have been opportunistic and voracious predators. They wouldn't have let other prey pass if they had the chance.
"It's going to take a while before we can understand this," they said. "It's a bit of a mystery." For now, the fossils offer a suggestive glimpse of a giant of the deep that may have plied the ancient seas. It was armed with a crushing jaw, powerful arms and a brain that perhaps allowed it to compete with other large predators. The 19 meter giant octopus was a fearsome rival.
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