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A 300‑million‑year‑old fossil, previously thought to be the remains of the world's oldest octopus, has been identified as a different animal.
Using the latest technology to search inside the fossil, University of Reading researchers discovered tiny teeth that proved it was actually an animal related to a modern Nautilus, a multi-tentacled animal with an external shell.
Zoologists believe the animal decayed for weeks before it was fossilised and this led to the case of mistaken identity.
The fossil, named Pohlsepia mazonensis, had featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the earliest known octopus.
Dr Thomas Clements, lead author and lecturer in invertebrate zoology at the University of Reading, said: "It turns out the world's most famous octopus fossil was never an octopus at all.
A famous 300-million-year-old fossil, believed to be the remains of the oldest-known octopus, was revealed overnight to be an entirely different animal.
Published 26 years ago, the original description of the creature, Pohlsepia mazonensis, rewrote the history of the octopus — suggesting the genus evolved 150 million years earlier than first thought.
Its discovery was even written into the Guinness Book of Records.
But leading paleontologists, including Dr Thomas Clements from the University of Reading, were “perplexed” by its classification as an octopus, so they decided to take a look inside its body using a high-powered X-ray.
Dr Clements told Yahoo News two key issues made him “suspicious” about it being an octopus.
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A famous 300-million-year-old fossil that was thought to be the world's oldest octopus—even featuring in the Guinness Book of Records—has turned out to be something else altogether. In what amounts to a case of mistaken identity, the fossil hid its true nature through decay 300 million years ago, before being fossilized.
Using the latest synchrotron imaging to search inside the fossil rock, researchers discovered tiny teeth preserved inside the rock that prove that Pohlsepia mazonensis is not an octopus at all, but an animal related to a modern Nautilus—a multi-tentacled animal with an external shell.
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