Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans · S. Ikegami et al.
原文开头
Shin Ikegami1†, Jörg Mutterlose2, Kanta Sugiura1, Yusuke Takeda3, Mehmet Oguz Derin4, Aya Kubota5, Kazuki Tainaka6, Takahiro Harada4, Harufumi Nishida7, Yasuhiro Iba1*† Top predators drive changes in ecosystem structure. For the last ~370 million years, large-sized vertebrates have dominated the apex of the marine food chain, while invertebrates have served as smaller prey. Here we describe invertebrate top predators from this “age of vertebrates,” the earliest finned octopuses (Cirrata) from Late Cretaceous sediments (~100 to 72 million years ago), as identified based on huge, exceptionally well-preserved fossil jaws and their wear. This extensive wear suggests dynamic crushing of hard skeletons. Asymmetric wear patterns further indicate lateralized behavior, suggesting advanced intelligence. …
摘自《科学》(Science)第392卷 第6796期 · 2026年4月23日,S. Ikegami et al.。仅引用开头一小段供了解文章,版权归原刊所有,全文请阅读原刊。