Octopus fossils are exceptionally rare, mostly because their bodies are made up of the rubbery flesh that makes them delicious after a trip through the fryer. However, this delicate flesh doesn’t exactly stand the test of  time, which is why the Proteroctopus fossil is such a good specimen:

The amazing preservation of Proteroctopus is due to the unique conditions at Voulte. During the mid-Jurassic the whole of France, excepting Brittany, was covered in a shallow tropical sea and Voulte lay in a basin in the seabed. An underwater current propelled animals from surrounding areas into the lower oxygen conditions inside this basin. It is believed that animals were then buried very rapidly thus preventing the rapid decay of tissues by bacterial action.

The Proteroctopus was probably a primitive octopod that eventually gave way to the type of 8-legged monsters that invade most sailor’s nightmares.

The sac-like body appears to have been powerfully muscled and the head is not distinct from the body. A funnel has also been identified. In addition there are two large powerful blade-like fins at the rear of the mantle indicating that the animal was probably a powerful swimmer. As with many soft-bodied coleoid fossils the precise position of Proteroctopus is not clear and some researchers have argued that it is actually a vampyromorph rather than an octopod, but this is not a universally accepted view.

Proteroctopus looks like a fictional sea monster and should be appropriately feared, but if you would like to learn more, check out Tonmo’s fossil octopus page.