Details
Argonauta argo
The paper nautilus is an open-ocean octopus found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. The female makes a thin shell-like egg case and lives as a solitary carnivore.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It drifts through warm surface and midwater ocean habitats. Rather than settling on the bottom, it moves through broad pelagic waters.
The female's shell-like case is about 10-30 cm, and weight about 50-500 g. This paper-thin white structure protects eggs and is not a true nautilus shell.
It is solitary and treated here as diurnal. Females carry the egg case and swim by adjusting arms and funnel.
It is carnivorous, taking small crustaceans and fish. Prey is seized with the arms and cut with a beak.
Females shelter eggs inside the thin case. Males are much smaller and transfer sperm with a modified arm.
Its conservation status is LC. Despite the common name, it is an octopus relative rather than a true nautilus.
