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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Jill Lawless

Scientists say the world's oldest octopus fossil isn't an octopus after all

Britain-Fossil Mystery - (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A 300-million-year-old tentacled sea creature has lost its crown as the world’s oldest octopus, after scientists found evidence that it’s not an octopus at all.

Newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell.

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