200-Million-Year-Old Fossil Captures Squid Viciously Entangled With Its Prey | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
Paleontologists have discovered a vicious undersea attack frozen in stone for nearly 200 million years. In the fossil s hardened sediments, an ancient squid-like creature called Clarkeiteuthis montefiorei has its prey wrapped up in tentacles studded with hooks, according to a statement from the University of Plymouth. The skull of the herring-like fish Dorsetichthys bechei appears to have been violently crushed, perhaps by the cephalopod s beak.
Researchers aren t sure how the deadly drama came to be preserved just before its denouement, but the find may be the earliest known example of a squid-like predator attacking its prey.