Pohlsepia mazonensis is named after its discoverer, James Pohl, and the type locality, Mazon Creek. Its habitat was the shallows seawards of a major river delta in what at that time was an inland ocean between the Midwest and the Appalachians.
In its initial description, it was considered to be the oldest known octopus, but later studies have considered this classification dubious. In 2022, it was even shown that it may not be a mollusk.