The kraken — a gigantic, tentacled sea monster capable of dragging ships and sailors down into the depths — is a creature of Norwegian myth. But millions of years ago, a similar real-life animal lurked in the deep.
Fossilized jaws reveal that enormous octopuses growing up to 19 meters long were top predators in the oceans during an era when dinosaurs ruled on land. These super-sized cephalopods would have been the largest marine animals of the Cretaceous Period and may be the biggest invertebrates to ever live, researchers report April 23 in Science.
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