MOLLUSCA: CEPHALOPODA: NAUTILIDAE: Nautilus

Nautilus pompilius Linnaeus, 1758

Chambered nautilus

Photos & text by Dr. Robert Sprackland.

Range: Residents of the southwestern Pacific and Indian Oceans, from New Caledonia west to eastern Africa.

Diagnosis:

Description: The nautilus is unmistakable in appearance.  The shell resembles a large snail shell, except it lacks the obvious coils seen on the gastropod's shell. There is a large orifice from which the living cephalopod extends its arms. In color the shell is pale gray, whitish, or light pink, with a dark reticulation of brown.

Natural History: Nautiluses are fiercely predatory animals. They hunt at night, and use the tremendously extensible arms to quickly seize passing crustaceans and small fishes. They are also scavengers that will tear apart fresh carcasses, which they locate by smell.

These odd cephalopods are generally found in deep waters--between 30 and 700 m/ 95-1570 ft--where water temperature is fairly constant.

Reproduction: Females lay up to ten eggs at two week intervals.

Taxonomy & Relationships: Though unusual when compared to living octopuses and squids, shelled cephalopods similar to nautiluses where once among the dominant life forms in prehistoric oceans. Taxonomists currently recognize between three an six nautilus species.

Variation:

Additional Comments: Nautiluses are edible, but their commercial value is their shell, sold in huge numbers in shell shops from Miami to Madras.

Type Specimen:

Literature: