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"Weird blob" creature thought to be the world's oldest octopus isn't an octopus after all. Here's what scientists found.
A prehistoric fossil previously thought to belong to the world's oldest octopus has been reclassified as something else, after scientists discovered the remains actually belonged to a different type of sea creature.
TL;DR
- A fossil previously identified as the world's oldest octopus has been reclassified as a relative of the nautilus.
- Lead researcher Thomas Clements and his team used a synchrotron to analyze the fossil, named Pohlsepia mazonensis.
- Analysis revealed a ribbon of teeth with 11 teeth per row, which is too many for an octopus and matches that of a fossil nautiloid, Paleocadmus pohli.
- The misidentification may have occurred because the creature lost its shell before fossilization.
- This discovery revises ideas about the evolution of octopuses, which were previously thought to have emerged much earlier.
- Guinness World Records will no longer list Pohlsepia mazonensis as the earliest known octopus.
- The fossil is housed at the Field Museum in Chicago and is now considered the oldest soft tissue nautilus in the world.