{"id":667832,"date":"2026-09-02T00:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/667832\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:59:17","slug":"fossil-of-giant-squid-like-creature-from-cretaceous-period-bears-marks-of-deadly-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/667832\/","title":{"rendered":"Fossil of Giant Squid-Like Creature from Cretaceous Period Bears Marks of Deadly Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paleontologists studying a fossil unearthed in southern Manitoba, Canada, have identified what they believe are two bite marks on the internal skeleton of the ancient giant cephalopod Enchoteuthis, offering rare evidence of predator-prey interactions in the Cretaceous seas that once covered the middle of North America.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Reconstruction<\/a><\/p>\n

Reconstruction of a mosasaur and large fish preying on an injured Enchoteuthis, representing potential candidates for the bite marks on the octopod. Image credit: Kaitlin Lindblad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Mesozoic, cephalopods were one of the most abundant and diverse groups in the marine realm,\u201d University of Manitoba paleontologist Melina Jobbins and colleagues wrote in their paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cCephalopods, including coleoids and ammonites, served as a great food source for predators such as marine reptiles and fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese predator-prey dynamics are supported by direct evidence, such as specimens with preserved stomach contents, as well as indirect evidence including individuals with fractures or breakage interpreted as bite marks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, identifying the specific predator from indirect evidence carries some uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the new study, the paleontologists examined the fossilized gladius \u2014 the internal, pen-like support structure \u2014 of Enchoteuthis<\/a>, a squid-like creature that swam in the Cretaceous seas around 81 million years ago.<\/p>\n

The specimen, named Q80.05.14, was originally collected in 1980 from the Pierre Shale of Manitoba, and is housed at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cQ80.05.14 is ca. 49 cm (19 inches) long and comprises a gladius with a nearly complete rachis and partial patella, with the anterior and posterior edges missing,\u201d the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide a rough estimate of total length of the gladius to be around 60 cm (24 inches), and a total body length of less than 1 m (39 inches).\u201d<\/p>\n

Using 3D scanning and silicone casts, the researchers analyzed two sub-triangular pathologies preserved on Enchoteuthis\u2019 gladius.<\/p>\n

One, near the front of the structure, is interpreted with more confidence as a bite mark inflicted shortly before or at the time of the animal\u2019s death, since it shows no sign of healing.<\/p>\n

The second mark, near the back, is more ambiguous: it could represent a second bite from the same attack, damage from a separate encounter, or delamination caused by the gladius splitting along its natural fibrous layers, either during the attack or afterward as the carcass decayed.<\/p>\n

Because the marks lack embedded teeth or the kind of regular tooth spacing that would point to a specific attacker, the scientists could not identify the predator with certainty.<\/p>\n

Both a mosasaur such as Latoplatecarpus<\/a>, and a predatory fish such as Cimolichthys<\/a>, lived alongside Enchoteuthis in the same ancient seaway and remain plausible culprits.<\/p>\n

Other candidates, including sharks and the gigantic mosasaur Tylosaurus<\/a>, were ruled out based on the shape of their bites or teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndirect evidence of predation such as bite marks are crucial elements to help us understand the prey-predator dynamics and contributes to our understanding of the food webs in the Western Interior Seaway during the Late Cretaceous,\u201d the authors concluded.<\/p>\n

Their paper<\/a> was published on August 28, 2026 in the journal Cretaceous Research.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Melina Jobbins et al. Lethal injury in the pen of a squid-like giant octobrachian Enchoteuthis from the Cretaceous Pierre Shale of Manitoba, Canada. Cretaceous Research, published online August 28, 2026; doi: 10.1016\/j.cretres.2026.106480<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paleontologists studying a fossil unearthed in southern Manitoba, Canada, have identified what they believe are two bite marks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[104596,249358,995,112846,282003,8098,18,282004,2681,4696,282005,1123,19,1931,17,282006,4323,171864,171865,1539,282007,112847,282008,133,80472],"class_list":["post-667832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-bite","tag-bite-mark","tag-canada","tag-cephalopod","tag-cimolichthys","tag-cretaceous","tag-eire","tag-enchoteuthis","tag-fish","tag-fossil","tag-gladius","tag-hunting","tag-ie","tag-injury","tag-ireland","tag-latoplatecarpus","tag-manitoba","tag-mosasaur","tag-mosasauridae","tag-north-america","tag-octobrachian","tag-octopod","tag-pierre-shale-formation","tag-science","tag-western-interior-seaway"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117198741706315865","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}