Fossil evidence from a peer-reviewed Science study shows that Cretaceous-era octopuses called Nanaimoteuthis haggarti grew to 60 feet long and were apex predators competing with mosasaurs for dominance of ancient seas roughly 100 million years ago. The discovery is significant because octopuses are typically soft-bodied invertebrates with few fossil records, making preserved evidence of this scale and behavior exceptionally rare and revealing about early cephalopod evolution. The research has been independently confirmed by National Geographic, AP News, CNN, and other major outlets.