Initially found in 2011, fossils of a marine lizard showed a strange pattern which a researcher believes was caused by a Kraken-like octopus. The claim has been criticized, but Professor Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, backed up this conclusion with other findings.
Pen and wash drawing by malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801,
from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by such a
creature off the coast of Angola. Was it a Kraken? (Public Domain)
An odd arrangement of sea reptile vertebrae was found in
Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada. The animal was called an
ichthyosaur and it lived around 200 to 250 million years ago. The manner
in which the bones were found suggests that
it was attacked by a much larger predator—perhaps supporting the
hypothesis that a giant octopus or squid once dominated the seas. It has
been estimated the creature which vanquished the ichthyosaur had to
have been about 99 feet (30 meters) long; this far surpasses the largest
giant octopus known today—a creature rarely larger than a human being.The discovery of a fossil identified as part of the beak of a giant octopus or squid-like creature, along with more bones arranged in unusual patterns which have sucker markings, adds to McMenamin’s evidence. A “debris pile” of scattered bones were also found alongside the remains of the ichthyosaur.
McMenamin asserts that the bones’ arrangement and the location of the sucker markings indicate the ichthyosaur was drowned or had its neck snapped. From there, it seems the beast was moved, possibly to the Kraken’s lair, where it was dumped.
Could this discovery really point to the existence of the legendary Kraken? While the idea is interesting, further evidence is necessary.
Tags
Cryptozoology
