Palaeontology

The real-life Kraken: whale-sized giant octopuses actually existed

By T.K. Randall
April 24, 2026 ·  2 comments

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Huge multi-tentacled horrors lurking in the depths might seem like they should be relegated to the realms of science fiction, but remarkably, creatures like this are actually real - or at least they were somewhere around 72 million years ago.

Today, some octopuses can still grow to quite large sizes, but even these pale in comparison to a species that palaeontologists recently discovered after re-examining octopus jaw fossils.

Measuring over 60ft in length, this gargantuan prehistoric cephalopod - named Nanaimoteuthis haggarti - lived in the oceans of the Late Cretaceous where it hunted other large sea animals.

For comparison, it was as large as a sperm whale and around 6 times larger than an elephant.According to researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan, it would have used its long tentacles to grab its prey and then consumed them using its beak which was capable of exerting extreme crushing force on its victims.

"With a calculated total length of (up to) 62 feet (19m) these octopuses may represent the largest invertebrates thus described, rivaling contemporaneous giant marine reptiles," the team wrote.

The discovery paints a terrifying picture of what the oceans of the time must have been like - an underwater realm filled with all manner of giant predatory creatures.

With giant octopuses joining the line-up alongside enormous predatory marine reptiles and huge sharks, smaller animals must have had to run the gauntlet on a daily basis.

Any one of these huge predators would have made any of today's ocean-dwelling carnivores seem positively tiny.

Source: Mail Online | Comments (2)

Tags: Octopus