Scientists say the world's oldest octopus fossil isn't an octopus after all
ABC News • • science
Key Points:
- Researchers have determined that a 300-million-year-old fossil previously thought to be the world's oldest octopus, Pohlsepia mazonensis, is actually a relative of the nautilus, a shelled cephalopod.
- Using advanced imaging technology, scientists found the fossil's radula had 11 teeth per row, inconsistent with octopuses which have seven or nine, indicating it is not an octopus.
- The fossil was initially misidentified likely because it decomposed and lost its shell before fossilization, complicating its classification.
- As a result, Guinness World Records will no longer recognize Pohlsepia mazonensis as the earliest known octopus fossil.
- The Field Museum in Chicago, which houses the fossil, now holds the oldest known soft tissue nautilus, an important discovery for cephalopod research.
