Search for the Sea Monster’s Lair: The Kraken Theory
A gigantic sea monster, similar to the legendary Kraken with many limbs that could reach the top of a ship's main mast, was said to have lived off the coast of Iceland and Norway centuries ago.
One of the ocean's foremost predators was seen in the motion picture, Pirates of the Caribbean, and is twice as big as an oversized squid.
However, the Kraken may be for real and Mark Mcmenamin, a paleontologist from the Mount Holyoke College of Massachusetts said the kraken, which would have been nearly 100 feet in length possibly drowned or broke the necks of the ichthyosaurs or giant sea reptiles before pulling the corpses to its den, according to reports from Fox News.
Although there is no unequivocal evidence regarding this creature, McMenamin suggests that's because it was soft-bodied and didn't stand the test of time; even so, to make a firm case for its existence one would want to find more direct evidence.
The scientist was supposed to present his work on Oct. 10 during the Geological Society of America's annual convention in Minneapolis.
Proof that the Kraken really existed may be seen on the fossils of nine14 meter ichthyosaurs belonging to the species Shonisaurus popularis, which lived during the Triassic, a period which lasted from 248 million to 206 million years ago.
The beasts were the Triassic version of today's voracious giant squid-eating sperm whales.
The markings of Shonisaurus popularis bones suggest that an octopus-like creature may have either drowned the ichthyosaurs or broke their necks, according to McMenamin.
The vertebrae also seemed to bear a resemblance to the pattern of sucker disks on a cephalopod's tentacle, with each vertebra strongly resembling a sucker made by a member of the Coleoidea, which includes octopuses, squid, cuttlefish and their relatives.
The researchers suggest this pattern reveals a self-portrait of the strange monster.
The question is where did this sea monster really go?
Most of Octopuses are soft-bodied and do not fossilize well. Scientists would not expect to find their remains from so long ago. Only their beaks, or mouthparts, are hard and the chances of those being preserved nearby are very low, according to experts.