It’s not just a CGI monster from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise or an old sailor legend, according to new research. A creature similar to the mythical “kraken” did cruise through Earth’s oceans, but before humans would have been around to see it, the researchers suggest.
“Although they lived far too early to have been the source of the legend… [the research team] describe fossil octopods from the late Cretaceous that truly would have fit the description of the monster,” said in study summary published last month in the Science journal. It said these octopods could be more than 62 feet long.
In comparison, that’s about as long as a bowling alley lane, according to Murrey Bowling. Giant squid thought to have inspired legendary krakens are about half that size, the researchers noted.
“Originating in Scandinavian folklore, the kraken is usually depicted as an aggressive cephalopod-like creature capable of destroying entire ships and dragging sailors to their doom,” according to the Natural History Museum in the U.K. It’s one of several tentacled beasts that show up in folklore around the globe.
That museum also explained that the Cretaceous is a geological period that began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago. It also said genetic evidence shows that the last common ancestor of all humans and modern chimpanzees is thought to have lived between six million and nine million years ago, with homo sapiens developing around 300,000 years ago.
All those millions of years ago in the Cretaceous period, back when dinosaurs roamed the planet, massive, kraken-like octopuses were top predators in the water, the recent research said. Wear patterns seen on the fossils of these ancient creatures suggest that they “preyed upon the large reptiles present at the time, including plesiosaurs and mosasaurs.”
Another interesting thing about these terrors of the sea is that they weren’t mindless attackers. Data indicates that they were smart.
“The authors interpret asymmetry in these wear patterns as an indication of corresponding asymmetry in behavior, suggesting complex brain development and, potentially, high intelligence,” the scientists explained.
Audacy reported on another dispatch from the Cretaceous period in March that gives some more context about what the sea was like at that time (violent, that is). According to research published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, a giant fish called Xiphactinus was able to take a bite out of a plesiosaur, based on fossil records from Alabama.
