Chambered Nautilus - The 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.