Overview
- Researchers led by the University of Hokkaido report in Science on Thursday that high‑resolution imaging and AI found 12 previously hidden beaks inside rock nodules, bringing the dataset to 27 fossils from Hokkaido and Vancouver Island.
- The fossils represent two species, Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi and N. haggarti, whose beaks measured up to 4.43 meters, which the team used to estimate body lengths approaching about 18.6 to 19 meters.
- The beaks—essentially the animals’ hard mouthparts—show heavy wear, including up to 10% tip loss, chips, scratches, and polished edges, pointing to repeated crushing of hard‑shelled and bony prey.
- The authors argue these finned octopus relatives likely filled apex or near‑apex roles in some Late Cretaceous seas, countering the idea that only large vertebrates topped food webs, while noting there is no direct proof they hunted mosasaurs or big sharks.
- The study extends the known timeline of these animals to roughly 100–72 million years ago and shows how AI‑guided “digital mining” can reveal soft‑bodied life from old collections, with the timing and cause of their disappearance still unclear.