Legendary Nautilus Shells

Chambered nautilus

"Nautilus pompilius" redirects here. For the Russian rock band, see Nautilus Pompilius (band). Chambered nautilus Temporal range: Early Pleistocene to Recent Nautilus side.jpg Conservation status Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1) Threatened (ESA) Scientific classification edit Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Cephalopoda Subclass: Nautiloidea Order: Nautilida Family: Nautilidae Genus: Nautilus Species: N. pompilius Binomial name Nautilus pompilius Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Nautilus pompilius pompilius Linnaeus, 1758 Nautilus pompilius suluensis Habe & Okutani, 1988 Synonyms Nautilus repertus Iredale, 1944 The chambered nautilus, Nautilus pompilius, also called the pearly nautilus, 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, although it is not a golden spiral. The shell exhibits countershading, being light on the bottom and dark on top. This is to help avoid predators, because when seen from above, it blends in with the darkness of the sea, and when seen from below, it blends in with the light coming from above. The range of the chambered nautilus encompasses much of the south Pacific; It has been found near reefs and on the seafloor off of the coasts of Australia, Japan, and Micronesia.[1] The eyes of the chambered nautilus, like those of all Nautilus species, are more primitive than those of most other cephalopods; the eye has no lens and thus is comparable to a pinhole camera. The species has about 90 cirri (referred to as "tentacles", see Nautilus § Cirri) that do not have suckers, differing significantly from the limbs of coleoids. Chambered nautiluses, again like all members of the genus, have a pair of rhinophores located near each eye which detect chemicals, and use olfaction and chemotaxis to find their food.[2][not verified in body] The oldest fossils of the species are known from Early Pleistocene sediments deposited off the coast of Luzon in the Philippines.[3] The first and oldest fossil of Chambered Nautilus displayed at the Philippine National Museum. Although once thought to be a living fossil, the chambered nautilus is now considered taxonomically very different from ancient ammonites, and the recent fossil record surrounding the species shows more genetic diversity among nautiluses now than has been found since the extinction of the dinosaurs.[1] Indeed, the taxon of the chambered nautilus, Nautilus pompilius is actually a grouping of tens of different species of nautilus under one name.[1] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia