Digital Fossil-Mining and Evolution of Squids:
Using digital fossil-mining techniques, scientists have uncovered that squids dominated ancient oceans 30 million years earlier than previously believed, shedding new light on their deep evolutionary history.Researchers digitally identified at least 40 species from two modern squid groups—Oegopsida (deep-sea squids) and Myopsida (coastal squids)—in 110–70 million-year-old Cretaceous concretions found in Japan.
Digital fossil-mining involves using technologies like 3D scanning, CT imaging, AI, and GIS to extract and analyze fossil data without damaging original fossils.Squids, belonging to the Cephalopod class (with octopuses and cuttlefish), have a soft mantle, an internal shell (gladius), a parrot-like beak, two tentacles for capturing prey, and eight arms for holding it. Like all cephalopods, they have three hearts and use jet propulsion for movement.
