Giant prehistoric krakens may have sculpted self-portraits using ichthyosaur bones

For decades , fossilist have puzzled over a fossil accumulation of nine Triassic icthyosaurs ( Shonisaurus popularis ) identify in Nevada ’s Berlin - Ichthyosaur State Park . Researchers ab initio thought that this strange grouping of 45 - groundwork - longsighted marine reptiles had either died en masse from a poisonous plankton bloom or had become stranded in shallow water .

But recent geological analysis of the fossil land site point that the ballpark was deep underwater when these shonisaurs swam the prehistoric seas . So why were their bones laid in such a flakey pattern ? A new theory suggests that a 100 - foot - long cephalopod arranged these bone as a ego - portrait after drowning the reptilian . And no , we ’re not talking about Cthulhu .

After consideringthe more brutal aspectsof modernistic octopus predation , paleontologistMark McMenamin of Mount Holyoke Collegecame to the conclusion that the shonisaur remains had been deposit in a “ kraken ” den by its monumental , tentacled squatter . Fromhis abstractof enquiry being presented today at The Geological Society of America ’s annual coming together :

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We hypothesize that the shonisaurs were killed and carried to the site by an tremendous Triassic cephalopod mollusk , a “ kraken , ” with estimated length of approximately 30 m , twice that of the advanced Colossal Squid Mesonychoteuthis . In this scenario , shonisaurs were lurk by a Triassic kraken , drowned , and deck on a midden like that of a innovative octopus . Where vertebra in the assemblage are disjoint , disc are arranged in curious linear pattern with almost geometric geometrical regularity . Close fitting due to spinal ligament contraction is disproved by the juxtaposition of different - sized vertebra from different parts of the vertebral column . The propose Triassic kraken , which could have been the most healthy invertebrate ever , coiffure the vertebral discs in biserial shape , with item-by-item pieces nesting in a fitted fashion as if they were part of a mystifier . The arranged vertebrae resemble the pattern of sucker discs on a cephalopodan tentacle , with each amphicoelous vertebra strongly resembling a coleoid sucker . Thus the tessellated vertebral disc pavement may represent the earliest be intimate self‑portrait .

McMenamin anticipates that this hypothesis will be met with disbelief , as the overweight body of a jumbo Triassic octopus would n’t fossilize well . But the possibleness of finding that which is basically a giant mollusk ’s macaroni instance ? That ’s the kind of glorious softheaded you go for is realness .

[ ViaThe Geological Society of America . Top artwork viaCyril Van Der Haegan / Deviantart ]

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