Sat Jun 28 23:30:00 UTC 2025: **News Article:**

**”Digital Fossil-Mining” Unearths Squid Evolution Secrets, Rewrites History**

**Tokyo, June 29, 2025** – A groundbreaking study published in *Science* has rewritten our understanding of squid evolution, pushing back the origins of major squid groups by tens of millions of years. Using a revolutionary technique dubbed “digital fossil-mining,” a team of Japanese scientists unearthed a treasure trove of fossilized squid beaks hidden within ancient rocks.

Traditional methods often damage delicate fossils, but this new technique involves meticulously grinding away layers of rock while capturing detailed photographs of each layer. These images are then stitched together to create a 3D model, revealing the hidden fossils within.

The team analyzed carbonate concretions from Cretaceous-era deposits, dating back 110-70 million years. This yielded an unprecedented collection of 263 lower squid beaks, representing at least 40 species across 23 genera and five families. Previously, only a single fossil squid beak was known.

The research revealed that both deep-sea squids (Oegopsida) and coastal squids (Myopsida) existed as early as 100 million years ago, 30 million years earlier than previously believed. The variety of beak shapes found indicates a rapid diversification of squids within a mere 6 million years of their emergence.

By the Late Cretaceous period, squid fossils outnumbered those of ammonites and bony fish, suggesting their dominance in marine ecosystems long before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. The findings suggest squids played a pivotal role in shaping modern marine life, paving the way for the evolution of intelligent and agile marine animals like modern fish, whales, and dolphins.

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