Cephalopods are extraordinary molluscs equipped with vertebrate-like intelligence and a unique buoyancy system for locomotion. A growing body of evidence from the fossil record, embryology and Bayesian molecular divergence estimations provides a comprehensive picture of their origins and evolution.
Cephalopods evolved during the Cambrian (530 Ma) from a monoplacophoran-like mollusc in which the conical, external shell was modified into a chambered buoyancy apparatus. During the mid-Palaeozoic (416 Ma) cephalopods diverged into nautiloids and the presently dominant coleoids. Coleoids (i.e. squids, cuttlefish and octopods) internalised their shells and, in the late Palaeozoic (276 Ma), diverged into Vampyropoda and the Decabrachia.
This shell internalisation appears to be a unique evolutionary event. In contrast, the loss of a mineralised shell has occurred several times in distinct coleoid lineages. The general tendency of shell reduction reflects a trend towards active modes of life and much more complex behaviour.