Chambered Nautilus - The Shelled Cephalopod

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Shelled Cephalopod!

Cousin to the Octopus, Squid, and Cuttlefish, the Chambered Nautilus is the only cephalopod that has a shell that resembles their other mollusk cousins--the "sea shells".

These shy creatures usually live in very deep water in the Indo-Pacific area and occasionally their shells float to the top and wind up on the beaches or fishermen bring them up in traps or nets.

Sometimes, scuba divers in places such as the Rock Islands of Palau where there exists sharp drop-offs to deeper water (Ngemelis Cliff, for instance), can see chambered nautilus swimming closer to the surface such that they can swim up to them and get pictures of them swimming in the open.

The nautilus propel themselves in much the same manner as their cousins--by squirting jets of water through an opening among their tentacles.

Palauan Chambered Nautilus at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory -- Night View

Chambered Nautilus Swimming 

Chambered Nautilus (Ancient Squid)

The Chambered Nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) is the best known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away reveals a lining of lustrous nacre, and displays a nearly perfect equiangular spiral. It has primitive eyes compared to other cephalopods, mostly due to the fact that they have no lens. Their eyes are comparable to a pinhole camera. It has about 90 tentacles and no suckers which is also different from other cephalopods. This nocturnal animal has a pair of rhinophores, which detect chemicals and uses olfaction and chemotaxis to find its food. From Ocean World Siam Paragon Bangkok Thailand.

curated content from YouTube

Nautilus, Nautilus, Not a Lot of Us, Love a Nautilus. Except We Do! 

Palauan Chambered Nautilus at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory -- Day View

Nautilus by the Bay.... eBay, that Is! 

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Nautilus Shots -- Weird Creatures of the Deep Abyss 

Octopus, squid, and cuttlefish relatives--these are the shelled relatives that resemble more their other mollusk cousins!

Chambered Nautilus 2 by upton

Chambered Nautilus 1 by upton

curated content from Flickr

Study Up on Nautilus! Read Up on Them Here! 

Get Out of Your Shell and Write a Note! (Or, is it "Get Out of Your Chambers!) 

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