Cretaceous Kraken? Nanaimoteuthis, The Largest Octopus To Ever Live

Please enjoy this episode focusing on the gigantic Late Cretaceous octopus Nanaimoteuthis haggarti, which, while almost certainly not a 60 foot long Mosasaur hunting apex predator, was still a powerful deep water ambush hunter of hard-shelled prey. https://www.patreon.com/c/DrPolaris Thumbnail art by Inkabg Sources used for this episode: Ikegami, Shin; Mutterlose, Jörg; Sugiura, Kanta; Takeda, Yusuke; Derin, Mehmet Oguz; Kubota, Aya; Tainaka, Kazuki; Harada, Takahiro; Nishida, Harufumi; Iba, Yasuhiro (2026). "Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans". Science. 392 (6796): 406–410. doi:10.1126/science.aea6285. PMID 42024754. Lindgren, Annie R.; Pankey, Molly S.; Hochberg, Frederick G.; Oakley, Todd H. (2012-07-28). "A multi-gene phylogeny of Cephalopoda supports convergent morphological evolution in association with multiple habitat shifts in the marine environment". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 12 (1): 129. Bibcode:2012BMCEE..12..129L. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-129. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 3733422. PMID 22839506. Taite, M.; Fernández-Álvarez, F. Á.; Braid, H. E.; Bush, S. L.; Bolstad, K.; Drewery, J.; Mills, S.; Strugnell, J. M.; Vecchione, M.; Villanueva, R.; Voight, J. R.; Allcock, A. L. (2023-02-10). "Genome skimming elucidates the evolutionary history of Octopoda". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 182 107729. Bibcode:2023MolPE.18207729T. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107729. hdl:10261/329953. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 36773750. S2CID 256804597. Tanabe, Kazushige; Hikida, Yoshinori (2010). "Jaws of a new species of Nanaimoteuthis (Coleoidea: Vampyromorphida) from the Turonian of Hokkaido, Japan". Paleontological Research. 14 (2): 145–150. doi:10.2517/1342-8144-14.2.145. Tanabe, Kazushige; Trask, Pat; Ross, Rick; Hidika, Yoshinori (2008). "Late Cretaceous octobrachiate coleoid lower jaws from the north Pacific regions" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 82 (2): 398–408. doi:10.1666/07-029.1. Tanabe, Kazushige; Misaki, Akihiro; Ubukata, Takao (2015). "Late Cretaceous Record of Large Soft-Bodied Coleoids Based on Lower Jaw Remains from Hokkaido, Japan" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 60 (1): 27–38. doi:10.4202/app.00057.2013. Vecchione, Michael (1997). "Aspects of the functional morphology cirrate octopods: locomotion and feeding" (PDF). Vie et Milieu / Life & Environment: 101–110.