Chambered nautilus

Nautilus pompilius

The chambered nautilus is a shelled cephalopod of Indian and Pacific waters. It is a solitary carnivore using reef slopes and nearby ocean habitats.

Key facts

Chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) is a carnivore animal classified as Invertebrate · Nautilida · Nautilidae.
Primary habitats are open ocean · coral reef, with a range across Indian Ocean · Pacific Ocean.
Activity is diurnal, sociality is solitary, and conservation status is LC (Least Concern).
The chambered nautilus is a shelled cephalopod of Indian and Pacific waters.
It lives around outer reefs and deep ocean slopes.
Typical lifespan: 1-5 years

Habitat range map

Native rangeOccasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

It lives around outer reefs and deep ocean slopes. It may shift depth between day and night while using the boundary between reef and open water.

Shell diameter is about 15-25 cm, and weight about 0.2-1.3 kg. The spiral shell is divided into chambers used in buoyancy control.

It is solitary and treated here as diurnal. It explores with many tentacles and moves by gentle jet propulsion.

It is carnivorous, eating small animals and carrion. Tentacles grasp food, which is then cut with a beak.

Females lay relatively large eggs on hard seafloor surfaces. Young hatch with a small shell and begin independent life.

Its conservation status is LC. As a cephalopod with ancient-looking features, it is important for understanding mollusk evolution.