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Nautilus pompilius (detail)🐚

Photo: Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesNautilidaNautilidae
Molluscs

🐚Chambered nautilus

Nautilus pompilius Linnaeus, 1758

The chambered nautilus, 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.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
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vs you
≈ 1/37th of your weight
Also called
Nautilus pompilius
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2026.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
1.68 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
not recorded
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Chambered nautilus

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
1.68 kgmaximum recorded
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

SeaLifeBase populates Weight independently of Length; the two are not guaranteed to describe the same individual. Verify before publishing.

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Shell diameter
0.22 mmaximum recorded, shell diameter
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
1.7 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Chambered nautilus yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumMollusca
  3. ›classCephalopoda
  4. ›orderNautilida
  5. ›familyNautilidae
  6. ›genusNautilus
  7. ›speciesNautilus pompilius
Full lineage
  1. phylumMolluscs · Mollusca
  2. classOctopuses & squid · Cephalopoda
  3. familyNautilidae
  4. genusNautilus
All 7 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumMolluscs · Mollusca
  3. classOctopuses & squid · Cephalopoda
  4. subclassNautiloidea
  5. orderNautilida
  6. familyNautilidae
  7. genusNautilus
More

More about the Chambered nautilus

In other languages
鸚鵡螺 (zh), Наутилус помпилиус (моллюск) (ru), Nautilus pompilius (fr), Ốc anh vũ (vi), Nautilus pompilius (ca), 황제앵무조개 (ko) … and 15 more languages
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