Nautilus pompilius
Chambered Nautilus
©Ron DeCloux, California Academy of Sciences on Flickr: Chambered Nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) floats in its tank in the Steinhart Aquarium
©David Witherall and Roeskva Rosenbaum: Chambered Nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) shell, Normanby Island
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Mollusca
Class
Cephalopoda
Order
Nautilida
Family
Nautilidae
Genus
Nautilus
Species
Nautilus pompilius
Colours
Distinguishing features
Shell with a closed umbilicus (inner coils of shell not visible) and the brown/orange bands extend to the umbilicus (Reid, 2016).
Size
- Up to 17 cm (diameter according to Reid, 2016)
Synonyms
Similar taxa
Comments
Three species of Nautilus are known from the outer reefs off Lizard Island, where they live in deep water (300 to 400 metres) during the day and ascend to shallower depths during the night to feed. They can be distinguished from their shells alone. The distinctive part of the shell is the umbilicus, on the side of the shell where the coils converge. See Norman (2000) and Saunders and Ward (1987) for more details.
by Anne Hoggett
Distribution
Local abundance
- Sydney Harbour, Australia: They would only be observed as drifting shells rather than live specimens in the Sydney Harbour region. (Julian Finn/ Museum of Victoria).
Web resources
References
- Norman, M. (2000). Cephalopods: A world guide ConchBooks, Hackenheim, Germany.
- Reid, A. (2016). Cephalopods of Australia and Sub-Antarctic Territories CSIRO, Clayton, Vic., Australia.
- Roper, C.F.E. and F.G. Hochberg (1986). Color and body patterns in cephalopods from Lizard Island, Australia,Unpublished manuscript. LIRS catalog number 204.
- View all references