Ancient ‘octopus’ fossil is actually a different species

By Stephen Beech

A 300-million-year-old fossil hailed as the world's oldest "octopus" has turned out to be something else altogether.

The artefact even featured in the Guinness Book of Records.

But new research shows that it was a case of mistaken identity with the fossil hiding its true nature as a result of decay 300 million years ago.

British researchers used state-of-the-art synchrotron imaging to search inside the fossil.

The team discovered tiny teeth preserved inside the rock that prove that Pohlsepia mazonensis is not an octopus at all, but a species related to a modern Nautilus - a multi-tentacled animal with an external shell.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, solves a long-running puzzle in the understanding of octopus evolution that has confused scientists for decades.

It also provides evidence of the oldest nautiloid soft tissue preservation known in the fossil record and means that the record-holding "oldest octopus" should be erased from the Guinness Book of Records.

Study lead author Dr. Thomas Clements said: "It turns out the world's most famous octopus fossil was never an octopus at all.

"It was a nautilus relative that had been decomposing for weeks before it became buried and later preserved in rock, and that decomposition is what made it look so convincingly octopus-like.

“Scientists identified Pohlsepia as an octopus 25 years ago, but using modern techniques showed us what was beneath the surface to the rock, which finally cracked the case.

"We now have the oldest soft tissue evidence of a nautiloid ever found, and a much clearer picture of when octopuses actually first appeared on Earth."

Clements, a lecturer in invertebrate zoology at the University of Reading, added: "Sometimes, re-examining controversial fossils with new techniques reveals tiny clues that lead to really exciting discoveries.”

Found in Illinois in the United States, the first analysis of the fossil was published in 2000 and was later used in studies of how octopuses and their relatives evolved.

Scientists thought the fossil showed eight arms, fins, and other features typical of an octopus, pushing back the known history of octopuses by around 150 million years.

But doubts had been raised about the identification for years, without a clear way to test them until recently.

For the new study, researchers used synchrotron imaging – a technique that uses beams of light brighter than the sun – to scan for structures invisible to the eye beneath the surface, revealing hidden details inside the rock.

The research team likened the process to giving a 300-million-year-old suspect a modern forensic examination.

What they found was a radula, a ribbon-like feeding structure with rows of teeth only found in molluscs.

With at least 11 tooth-like elements per row, the shape and number ruled out an octopus entirely.

Octopuses only have seven or nine, while nautiloids have 13.

The teeth matched those of a fossil nautiloid named Paleocadmus pohli, already known from the same site where it was found.

The research team concluded the animal had partially rotted before fossilisation, causing it to look very different from its true self.

The Nautilus is a shelled sea creature still alive today, with its ancient origins leading some to describe it as a “living fossil”.

The Paleocadmus fossils found at the Mazon Creek site in Illinois now represent the oldest known nautiloid soft tissue in the fossil record – beating the previous record by around 220 million years.

Clements says the new findings change the picture of when octopuses first evolved.

The data now supports octopuses appearing much later, during the Jurassic period.

Scientists now believe the split between octopuses and their 10-armed relatives - such as squids - occurred in the Mesozoic era, not hundreds of millions of years earlier as previously thought.

Clements said: “It's amazing to think a row of tiny hidden teeth, hidden in the rock for 300 million years, have fundamentally changed what we know about when and how octopuses evolved."