Oldest octopus fossil found to not be an octopus

A 300-million-year-old fossil named Pohlsepia mazonensis, originally identified as the world's oldest octopus in 2000, has been reclassified in 2026 as a nautiloid — a relative of the modern nautilus. Using synchrotron imaging, researchers discovered tiny preserved teeth inside the rock, proving the creature was not an octopus but an animal related to the modern nautilus. The teeth matched those of a fossil nautiloid called Paleocadmus pohli from the same site, and the animal is believed to have partially rotted before fossilization, causing it to appear very different from its true form. This discovery significantly changes the timeline for octopus evolution, with current evidence now suggesting octopuses appeared much later during the Jurassic period, and placing the evolutionary split between octopuses and their ten-armed relatives in the Mesozoic era.

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Source: industry

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