Cephalopods fossilized mid-predation

[Halichoeres]

These two cephalopods (distant relatives of the vampire squid, which is more closely related to octopuses than anything else living) were caught in the act of eating each other. The larger specimen, Jeletzkyteuthis, appears to have caught a Parabelopeltis, started eating it, and sunk, distracted, into an anoxic zone where it also died.

Here's a reconstruction of the event:


Some beautiful images of the fossil itself can be found in Klug et al., open access in Swiss Journal of Palaeontology: https://sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13358-021-00218-y

[Faelrin]

Wonderful preservation. What a lucky unlucky find. Pretty cool to see the ink was even fossilized. The diagrams in the paper are very helpful too, to help make out the less obvious details (to my untrained eyes), and of course I'm appreciative it is open access for something like this.