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  "path": "/science/palaeontology-breakthrough-world-oldest-octopus-three-hundred-million-years-old",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-08T08:08:04.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Warship sunk by Admiral Nelson's fleet over 200 years ago found alongside long lost relics",
    "Historians uncover first direct evidence of female gladiators in Roman arena",
    "Fossil discovery could completely rewrite what we know about prehistoric life",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nThe world's \"oldest octopus\" thought to be 300million years old has been stripped of its title.\n\nScientists at the University of Reading have uncovered that the fossil long celebrated as the world's oldest octopus is actually something else entirely.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nPohlsepia mazonensis, a 296-million-year-old specimen discovered in the US state of Illinois, held the Guinness World Records title for the earliest known octopus.\n\nHowever, researchers have now confirmed this was a \"case of mistaken identity\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe creature is in fact a relative of the nautilus, a multi-tentacled mollusc with an external shell, the Times reports.\n\nAccording to the University of Reading team, this revelation means the record books entry should probably be \"quietly written out\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe finding, published in the journal _Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences_ solves a puzzle that has perplexed scientists for decades and represents the oldest preserved soft tissue from a nautiloid ever discovered.\n\nThe true identity of the fossil emerged when scientists employed a synchrotron to fire X-rays deep into the specimen.\n\nThese scans exposed a set of teeth concealed within the rock for 300 million years.\n\nThe dental structures proved decisive in ruling out any octopus classification.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Warship sunk by Admiral Nelson's fleet over 200 years ago found alongside long lost relics\n  * Historians uncover first direct evidence of female gladiators in Roman arena\n  * Fossil discovery could completely rewrite what we know about prehistoric life\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nWithin a ribbon-like body part known as a radula, researchers counted 11 tooth-like structures per row.\n\nThis configuration \"ruled out an octopus entirely\", according to the study, since octopuses possess either seven or nine such structures.\n\nThe tooth count instead pointed towards a mollusc classification, ultimately leading scientists to conclude the creature was more closely related to the modern nautilus.\n\nPartial decay before fossilisation had altered the specimen's appearance, preserving it for millions of years looking markedly different from its living form.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nDr Thomas Clements, a lecturer in invertebrate zoology at Reading and lead author of the study, said: \"It turns out the world's most famous octopus fossil was never an octopus at all.\n\n\"It was a nautilus relative that had been decomposing for weeks before it became buried and later preserved in rock, and that decomposition is what made it look so convincingly octopus-like.\n\n\"Using modern techniques showed us what was beneath the surface [of] the rock, which finally cracked the case.\n\n\"We now have the oldest soft tissue evidence of a nautiloid ever found, and a much clearer picture of when octopuses actually first appeared on Earth.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe specimen had spent weeks decaying before burial, fundamentally transforming its appearance in ways that fooled researchers for over two decades.\n\nThe discovery fundamentally reshapes understanding of when octopuses first appeared on Earth.\n\nAn analysis published in 2000 had pushed octopus origins back 150 million years to the Palaeozoic era, but the new research \"refutes a Palaeozoic origin\" for eight-armed cephalopods - the animal grouping in which squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus belong.\n\nInstead, the evidence now suggests octopuses evolved during the Jurassic period, between 200 and 145 million years ago.\n\nDr Clements said: \"It's amazing to think a row of tiny hidden teeth, hidden in the rock for 300 million years, have fundamentally changed what we know about when and how octopuses evolved.\"\n\nAdam Millward, Guinness World Records' managing editor, said: \"This is a fascinating discovery and congratulations to the University of Reading on their research.\n\n\"We will be resting the original title and look forward to seeing the new evidence.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "World's 'oldest octopus' thought to be 300 million years old is stripped of its title"
}