Jurassic 10-Armed 'Squid' Were Speedy Swimmers
by Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | January 06, 2016
http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/080/510/i02/jurassic-squid-01-reconstruction.jpg?1452033509
by Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | January 06, 2016
http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/080/510/i02/jurassic-squid-01-reconstruction.jpg?1452033509
Three extremely rare fossil specimens of an extinct squidlike animal provide new evidence of the 10-armed creature's body structure and suggest that it may have been a swift swimmer, a new study finds.
The fossils represent Acanthoteuthis, a genus of squid relatives that lived during the Jurassic period and measured between 9.8 and 15.7 inches (25 and 40 centimeters) long. What makes the specimens so exceptional is their preservation of soft body parts like the animals' fins and feeding structures, which are usually lost to time. Now, an analysis of the new material reveals never-before-seen organs, offering scientists their first glimpse of features that suggest how Acanthoteuthis may have lived, millions of years ago.
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