Before there were fish in the sea, there were cephalopods—the ancestors of modern squid and Earth’s first truly substantial animals

This engaging book may do for early cephalopods what paleontologists did for dinosaurs in the 1960s: spark a public renaissance of appreciation for these magnificent creatures who once ruled the seas.-Jennifer Ouellette, author of Me, Myself and Why and The Calculus Diaries

Before there were mammals on land, there were dinosaurs. And before there were fish in the sea, there were cephalopods—the ancestors of modern squid and Earth’s first truly substantial animals. Squid Empire is an epic adventure spanning hundreds of millions of years, from the marine life of the primordial ocean to the calamari on tonight’s menu. Anyone who enjoys the undersea world—along with all those obsessed with things prehistoric—will be interested in the sometimes enormous, often bizarre creatures that ruled the seas long before the first dinosaurs.

When Danna Staaf met an octopus at the age of ten, it changed her life. She set up a saltwater aquarium to keep eight-armed pets in her bedroom, learned to scuba dive and eventually earned a PhD in the biology of squid babies. She currently works as a science writer and also writes fiction; and, helps her husband raise two story-hungry children.