News Animals

Giant, kraken-like octopuses may have ruled the Cretaceous deep

The largest invertebrate known was an enormous octopus that lived at the time of dinosaurs

An illustration shows a giant pinkish octopus in the deep sea with webbing between its tentacles and floppy fins on its body.

This artwork depicts the whale-sized octopus Nanaimoteuthis haggarti, which stalked the seas at the time dinosaurs roamed on land.

Yohei Utsuki/Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences/Hokkaido University

By Jake Buehler

The kraken — a gigantic, tentacled sea monster capable of dragging ships and sailors down into the depths — is a creature of Norwegian myth.