This fascinating animal is now on the list of protected species. Quite rightly of course. Of all the squid-species the “Chambered Nautilus” is the only one with a beautiful outer shell. This shell is used for jewelry (decoration) which is a popular souvenir for tourists. Bizarre! The Nautilus lives at great depth (200 m) but must go to the surface to eat. This makes it extremely vulnerable to its main predator: humans.
If you’re ever feeling down on yourself just remember that a group of animals which swim backwards and constantly bump into things has clung to existence for around 200 million years
Nautiluses are super cool!! They’re the oldest living subclass of the cephalopods, and really haven’t changed all that much since the late triassic! Their ancestors were called ammonites which appeared waayyyy back in the devonian period (419.2–358.9 million years ago). I had a whole post on ammonites a long time ago which you can find here: http://squidscientistas.tumblr.com/post/124712468719/firstly-you-guys-are-awesome-and-i-love-this
Nautilus shells are composed is many gas chambers and as it gets bigger the nautilus will close off one of the chambers and move its body into the next one.
FEEDING! The chambered Nautilus is a mollusk, related to the octopus, squid, clam and snail. A nautilus, along with the cuttlefish, squid, and octopus, are all cephalopods, meaning “head-foot,” so named because the feet (tentacles) are attached to the head.
The nautilus is the only cephalopod that has a fully developed shell for protection. The nautilus has more than 90 suckerless tentacles. Grooves and ridges on the tentacles are used to grip prey and deliver food to a crushing, parrot-like beak. Most of the time the Nautilus is in stock in the #Heevis Store in Eindhoven.
Anonymous
