Nautilus

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Nautilus
Temporal range:
Ma[1]
Nautilus belauensis
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Nautiloidea
Order: Nautilida
Superfamily: Nautilaceae
Family: Nautilidae
Blainville, 1825
Genera

Carinonautilus
Cenoceras
Eutrephoceras
Pakiwheel
Pseudocenoceras
Strionautilus
Allonautilus
Nautilus
† = Extinct

Synonyms[2]
  • Eutrephoceratidae Miller, 1951

The nautilus (from

mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina
.

It comprises nine living species in two genera, the

Depending on species, adult shell diameter is between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 inches).

Nautilidae, both extant and extinct, are characterized by

Nautiloidea, and are often considered "living fossils
".

The first and oldest fossil of chambered nautilus displayed at Philippine National Museum.

The word nautilus is derived from the Greek word ναυτίλος nautílos "sailor", it originally referred to a type of octopus of the genus Argonauta, also known as 'paper nautilus', which were thought to use two of their arms as sails.[6][7]

Anatomy

Diagram of the anatomical structure of a female N. pompilius including most of its internal organs.

Tentacles

The arm crown of modern nautilids (genera Nautilus and Allonautilus) is very distinct in comparison to coleoids. Unlike the ten-armed Decabrachia or the eight-armed Octopodiformes, nautilus possess between 60 and over 90 tentacles depending on the sex and individual.[8][9] These tentacles are classified into three distinct categories: ocular, digital, and labial (buccal).[10] There are two sets of ocular tentacles: one set in front of the eye (pre-ocular) and one set behind the eye (post-ocular). The digital and labial tentacles are arrayed circularly around the mouth, with the digital tentacles forming the outermost ring and the labial tentacles in between the digital tentacles and the mouth. There are 19 pairs of digital tentacles that, together with the ocular tentacles, make up the 42 appendages that are visible when observing the animal (not counting the modified tentacles that form the hood). The labial tentacles are generally not visible, being smaller than the digital tentacles, and more variable both in number and in shape.[9][10][11] Males modify three of their labial tentacles into the spadix, which delivers spermatophores into the female during copulation.[9]

The tentacle is composed of two distinct structures: the first structure, a fleshy sheath that contains the second structure: an extendable cirrus (plural: cirri).[10][12] The sheaths of the digital tentacles are fused at their base into a single mass referred to as the cephalic sheath. The digital cirri can be fully withdrawn into the sheath and are highly flexible, capable of extending just over double their fully retracted length and show a high degree of allowable bendability and torsion.[12] Despite not having suckers, the digital tentacles show strong adhesive capabilities. Adhesion is achieved through the secretion of a neutral (rather than acidic) mucopolysaccharide from secretory cells in the ridges of the digital cirri.[13][14][15] Release is triggered through contraction of the tentacle musculature rather than the secretion of a chemical solvent, similar to the adhesion/release system in Euprymna, though it is unclear whether these adhesives are homologous.[15][16] The ocular tentacles show no adhesive capability but operate as sensory organs. Both the ocular tentacles and the eight lateral digital tentacles show chemoreceptive abilities; the preocular tentacles detect distant odor and the lateral digital tentacles detect nearby odor.[17][18]

Digestive system

The radula is wide and distinctively has nine teeth.

The mouth consists of a parrot-like beak made up of two interlocking jaws capable of ripping the animal's food— mostly crustaceans— from the rocks to which they are attached.[19]: p. 105  Males can be superficially differentiated from females by examining the arrangement of tentacles around the buccal cone: males have a spadix organ (shaped like a spike or shovel) located on the left side of the cone making the cone look irregular, whereas the buccal cone of the female is bilaterally symmetrical.[19]: pp. 115–130 

The crop is the largest portion of the digestive tract, and is highly extensible. From the crop, food passes to the small muscular stomach for crushing, and then goes past a digestive caecum before entering the relatively brief intestine.

Circulatory system

Like all cephalopods, the blood of the nautilus contains

pallial cavity
.

Nervous system

The central component of the nautilus nervous system is the oesophageal

ganglia, commissures, and connectives that together form a ring around the animal's oesophagus. From this ring extend all of the nerves forward to the mouth, tentacles, and funnel; laterally to the eyes and rhinophores
; and posteriorly to the remaining organs.

The nerve ring does not constitute what is typically considered a cephalopod "brain": the upper portion of the nerve ring lacks differentiated lobes, and most of the nervous tissue appears to focus on finding and consuming food (i.e., it lacks a "higher learning" center). Nautili also tend to have rather short memory spans, and the nerve ring is not protected by any form of brain case.[21]

Shell

Nautilus half-shell showing the camerae in a logarithmic spiral
Section cut of a nautilus shell
A nautilus shell viewed from above (left), and from underneath (right)

Nautili are the sole living cephalopods whose bony body structure is externalized as a planispiral

matte white outer layer with dark orange stripes,[23] and a striking white iridescent inner layer. The innermost portion of the shell is a pearlescent blue-gray. The osmeña pearl, contrarily to its name, is not a pearl, but a jewellery
product derived from this part of the shell.

Internally, the shell divides into

hatching
to 30 or more in adults.

The shell coloration also keeps the animal

cryptic in the water. When seen from above, the shell is darker in color and marked with irregular stripes, which helps it blend into the dark water below. The underside is almost completely white, making the animal indistinguishable from brighter waters near the surface. This mode of camouflage is called countershading
.

The nautilus shell presents one of the finest natural examples of a

nautilus shell
.

Size

N. pompilius is the largest species in the genus. One form from

Nautilus pompilius suluensis) is even smaller, with a mean shell diameter of 11.56 cm (4.55 in).[25]

Physiology

Buoyancy and movement

Nautilus locomotion
File format: Ogg
File size: 1.29 MB
Duration: 5 seconds
Nautilus with extended tentacles and hyponome visible

To swim, the nautilus draws water into and out of the living chamber with its

hyponome, which uses jet propulsion. This mode of propulsion is generally considered inefficient compared to propulsion with fins or undulatory locomotion, however, the nautilus has been found to be particularly efficient compared to other jet-propelled marine animals like squid and jellyfish, or even salmon at low speeds.[26] It is thought that this is related to the use of asymmetrical contractile cycles and may be an adaptation to mitigate metabolic demands and protect against hypoxia when foraging at depth.[27] While water is inside the chamber, the siphuncle extracts salt
from it and diffuses it into the blood.

The animal adjusts its

hydrostatic pressures found at depths greater than approximately 800 metres (2,600 ft), and in fact implode at about that depth, causing instant death.[25] The gas also contained in the chambers is slightly below atmospheric pressure at sea level.[28] The maximum depth at which they can regulate buoyancy by osmotic removal of chamber liquid is not known.[29]

The nautilus has the extremely rare ability to withstand being brought to the surface from its deep natural habitat without suffering any apparent damage from the experience. Whereas fish or crustaceans brought up from such depths inevitably arrive dead, a nautilus will be unfazed despite the pressure change of as much as 80

vena cava is thought to play an important role.[19]
: p. 188 

Senses

Head of N. pompilius showing the rudimentary eye, which functions similarly to a pinhole camera

Unlike many other cephalopods, nautiluses do not have what many consider to be good vision; their

lens. Whereas a sealed lens allows for the formation of highly focused and clear, detailed surrounding imagery, nautiluses have a simple pinhole
eye open to the environment which only allows for the creation of correspondingly simple imagery.

Instead of vision, the animal is thought to use

olfaction (smell) as the primary sense for foraging and for locating and identifying potential mates.[30]

The "ear" of the nautilus consists of structures called

ganglia near the nerve ring. They are oval structures densely packed with elliptical calcium carbonate
crystals.

Brain and intelligence

Nautiluses are much closer to the first cephalopods that appeared about 500 million years ago than the early modern cephalopods that appeared maybe 100 million years later (

coleoids). They have a seemingly simple brain, not the large complex brains of octopus, cuttlefish and squid, and had long been assumed to lack intelligence. But the cephalopod nervous system is quite different from that of other animals, and recent experiments have shown not only memory, but a changing response to the same event over time.[31][32][33]

In a study in 2008, a group of nautiluses (N. pompilius) were given food as a bright blue light flashed until they began to associate the light with food, extending their tentacles every time the blue light was flashed. The blue light was again flashed without the food 3 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours later. The nautiluses continued to respond excitedly to the blue light for up to 30 minutes after the experiment. An hour later they showed no reaction to the blue light. However, between 6 and 12 hours after the training, they again responded to the blue light, but more tentatively. The researchers concluded that nautiluses had memory capabilities similar to the "short-term" and "long-term memories" of the more advanced cephalopods, despite having different brain structures.[31][32][33] However, the long-term memory capability of nautiluses was much shorter than that of other cephalopods. The nautiluses completely forgot the earlier training 24 hours later, in contrast to octopuses, for example, which can remember conditioning for weeks afterwards. However, this may be simply the result of the conditioning procedure being suboptimal for sustaining long-term memories in nautiluses. Nevertheless, the study showed that scientists had previously underestimated the memory capabilities of nautiluses.[33]

Reproduction and lifespan

Nautiluses reproduce by laying

polycyclic spawning.[35]

Nautiluses are sexually dimorphic, in that males have four tentacles modified into an organ, called the "spadix", which transfers sperm into the female's mantle during mating. At sexual maturity, the male shell becomes slightly larger than the female's.[36] Males have been found to greatly outnumber females in practically all published studies, accounting for 60 to 94% of all recorded individuals at different sites.[25]

The lifespan of nautiluses may exceed 20 years, which is exceptionally lengthy for a cephalopod, many of whom live less than three even in captivity and under ideal living conditions.[37] However, nautiluses typically do not reach sexual maturity until they are about 15 years old, limiting their reproductive lifespan to often less than five years.[25]

Nautilus male has a reproductive organ named Van der Hoeven's organ. Nautilus female has two reproductive organs whose functions are unknown, the Organ of Valenciennes and Owen's laminated organ.[38]

Left: Frequency distribution of N. pompilius shell diameter at Osprey Reef, part of the Coral Sea Islands, based on 2067 captured individuals. Shells ranged in size from 76 to 145 mm, with a mean of 128.6±28.01 mm.[25]
Right: Shell diameter of mature male and female N. pompilius caught at Osprey Reef. Males (n = 870) had a mean shell diameter of 131.9±2.6 mm, compared to 118.9±7.5 mm in females (n = 86). The Osprey Reef N. pompilius population is the second smallest known in terms of mean shell diameter, after the dwarf form from the Sulu Sea (130.7 mm and 115.6 mm, respectively).[25]

Ecology

Range and habitat

Number of captured N. pompilius at various depths around the Osprey Reef Seamount, Coral Sea. The data was collated from 271 trapping events spread across all months of the year. Nautiluses were most common at 300–350 m (1,000–1,100 ft). No specimens were recovered from a depth of less than 150 m (500 ft) during 18 trapping efforts.[25]

Nautiluses are only found in the Indo-Pacific, from 30° N to 30° S latitude and 90° E to 175° E longitude. They inhabit the deep slopes of coral reefs.

Nautiluses usually inhabit depths of several hundred metres. It has long been believed that nautiluses rise at night to feed, mate, and lay

Loyalty Islands, and Vanuatu can nautiluses be observed in very shallow water, at depths of as little as 5 m (15 ft).[29][39] This is due to the cooler surface waters found in these southern hemisphere habitats as compared to the many equatorial habitats of other nautilus populations – these usually being restricted to depths greater than 100 m (300 ft).[29][39] Nautiluses generally avoid water temperatures above 25 °C (75 °F).[39]

two-spot red snapper
(Lutjanus bohar) bait during daytime at 703 m (2,306 ft) depth. This observation constitutes the deepest record of any nautilus species.

Diet

Nautiluses are scavengers and opportunistic predators.

molts, hermit crabs, and carrion of any kind.[29]

Evolution

Shell characters of the genera Nautilus and Allonautilus
Section cut of a nautilus shell

extinct, while members of Coleoidea managed to survive. Following the mass extinction, the nautilus became the only extant species of nautiloids.[42][43]

The family Nautilidae has its origin in the

Centroceratina), specifically in the Syringonautilidae of the Late Triassic[5] and continues to this day with Nautilus, the type genus, and its close relative, Allonautilus
.

Fossil genera

Eutrephoceras dorbignyanum

The fossil record of Nautilidae begins with

Upper Jurassic-Miocene Eutrephoceras
.

Eutrephoceras is generally subglobular, broadly rounded laterally and ventrally, with a small to occluded umbilicus, broadly rounded hyponomic sinus, only slightly sinuous sutures, and a small siphuncle that is variable in position.

Next to appear is the

USSR
, named by Shimankiy in 1951. Strionautilus is compressed, involute, with fine longitudinal striations. Whorl sections are subrectangular, sutures sinuous, the siphuncle subcentral.

Also from the Cretaceous is Pseudocenoceras, named by Spath in 1927. Pseudocenoceras is compressed, smooth, with subrectangular whorl sections, flattened venter, and a deep umbilicus. The suture crosses the venter essentially straight and has a broad, shallow, lateral lobe. The siphuncle is small and subcentral. Pseudocenoceras is found in the Crimea and in Libya.

Upper Cretaceous of India
, named by Spengler in 1919. Carinonautilus is a very involute form with high whorl section and flanks that converge on a narrow venter that bears a prominent rounded keel. The umbilicus is small and shallow, the suture only slightly sinuous. The siphuncle is unknown.

Obinautilus has also been placed in Nautilidae by some authorities, though it may instead be an argonautid octopus.[44][45]

Pakiwheel is a genus from the

Upper Cretaceous of Pakistan, named by Malkani in 2014.[46]

Taxonomy

Photo of profiles of three progressively larger nautilus shells
Nautilus shells: Left: Nautilus pompilius; center: Allonautilus scrobiculatus; right: Nautilus macromphalus.

The family Nautilidae contains up to nine

extinct species:[47]

Genetic data collected in 2011 pointed to there being only three extant species: A. scrobiculatus, N. macromphalus, and N. pompilius, with N. belauensis and N. stenomphalus both subsumed under N. pompilius, possibly as subspecies,[25] though this was prior to the description of three additional species (samoaensis, vanuatuensis and vitiensis).

Dubious or uncertain taxa

The following taxa associated with the family Nautilidae are of uncertain taxonomic status:[49]

Binomial name and author citation Current systematic status Type locality Type repository
N. alumnus Iredale, 1944 Species dubium [fide Saunders (1987:49)] Queensland, Australia Not designated [fide Saunders (1987:49)]
N. ambiguus Sowerby, 1848 Species dubium [fide Saunders (1987:48)] Not designated Unresolved
N. beccarii Linné, 1758 Non-cephalopod; Foraminifera [fide Frizzell and Keen (1949:106)]
N. calcar Linné, 1758 ?Non-cephalopod; Foraminifera Lenticulina Adriatic Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. crispus Linné, 1758 Undetermined Mediterranean Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. crista Linné, 1758 Non-cephalopod;
Turbo
[fide Dodge (1953:14)]
N. fascia Linné, 1758 Undetermined Adriatic Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. granum Linné, 1758 Undetermined Mediterranean Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. lacustris
Lightfoot
, 1786
Non-cephalopod;
Helix [fide Dillwyn
(1817:339)]
N. legumen Linné, 1758 Undetermined Adriatic Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. micrombilicatus Joubin, 1888 Nomen nudum
N. obliquus Linné, 1758 Undetermined Adriatic Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. pompilius marginalis Willey, 1896 Species dubium [fide Saunders (1987:50)] New Guinea Unresolved
N. pompilius moretoni Willey, 1896 Species dubium [fide Saunders (1987:49)] New Guinea Unresolved
N. pompilius perforatus Willey, 1896 Species dubium [fide Saunders (1987:49)] New Guinea Unresolved
N. radicula Linné, 1758 ?Non-cephalopod; F. Nodosaria Adriatic Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. raphanistrum Linné, 1758 Undetermined Mediterranean Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. raphanus Linné, 1758 Undetermined Adriatic Sea Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. semi-lituus Linné, 1758 Undetermined
Liburni, Adriatic Sea
Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. sipunculus Linné, 1758 Undetermined "freto Siculo" Unresolved; Linnean Society of London?
N. texturatus Gould, 1857 Nomen nudum
Octopodia nautilus Schneider, 1784 Rejected specific name [fide Opinion 233, ICZN (1954:278)]

Conservation status and human use

Nautilus are collected or fished for sale as live animals or to carve the shells for souvenirs and collectibles, not for just the shape of their shells, but also the nacreous inner shell layer, which is used as a pearl substitute.[50][51][52] In Samoa, nautilus shells decorate the forehead band of a traditional headdress called tuiga.[53] Nautilus shells were popular items in the Renaissance and Baroque cabinet of curiosities and were often mounted by goldsmiths on a thin stem to make extravagant nautilus shell cups.

The low

CITES Appendix II, regulating international trade.[57][58]

  • Baroque nautilus cup of Aleksander Kęsowski, abbot of Oliwa, 1643–1667[59]
    Baroque nautilus cup of Aleksander Kęsowski, abbot of Oliwa, 1643–1667[59]
  • Nautilus shell carved and painted with fanciful scenes of human figures and animals (spider, dragonfly, dog, butterfly, sawfly, fly), bronze pendant mount, nineteenth century. Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan
    Nautilus shell carved and painted with fanciful scenes of human figures and animals (spider, dragonfly, dog, butterfly, sawfly, fly), bronze pendant mount, nineteenth century. Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan
  • Nautilus shell in art 1996
    Nautilus shell in art 1996

In human culture

Palauans see nautili (Palauan: kedarm) as a symbol of vulnerable or fragile character from a belief that they easily die even from slight bumps on ocean rocks; hence someone who gets quickly angry after being pranked is compared to one (ng ko er a kedarm, el di metirem e metord).[60]

See also

References

Notes

  1. .
  2. .
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879). "nautĭlus or nautĭlŏs". A Latin Dictionary. Perseus Digital Library.
  4. ^ "Checklist of CITES species". CITES. Retrieved 24 June 2020. (please fill in 'Nautilus' in the search-box).
  5. ^ a b Kümmel, B. 1964. Nautiloidae-Nautilida, in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Geological Society of America and Univ of Kansas Press, Teichert and Moore eds.
  6. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). "ναυτίλος". A Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library.
  7. ^ "Origin of nautilus". Dictionary.com Unabridged. 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  8. S2CID 2767810
    .
  9. ^ a b c Sasaki, T; Shigeno, S & Tanabe, K (2010). "Anatomy of living Nautilus: reevaluation of primitiveness and comparison with Coeloidea". Cephalopods - Present and Past. Tokai University Press.
  10. ^ a b c Owen, Richard (1832). Memoir on the pearly nautilus (Nautilus pompilius, Linn). With illustrations of its external form and internal structure. London: Richard Taylor.
  11. ISSN 0374-5481
    .
  12. ^ , retrieved 2023-11-28
  13. , retrieved 2023-11-28
  14. .
  15. ^ .
  16. .
  17. .
  18. .
  19. ^ .
  20. ^ Wingstrand, KG (1985). "On the anatomy and relationships of Recent Monoplacophora". Galathea Rep. 16: 7–94. Archived from the original (Link to free full text + plates) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  21. S2CID 83951270
    .
  22. .
  23. ^ "Sea Wonder: Chambered Nautilus". National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. 21 August 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  24. .
  25. ^ .
  26. .
  27. .
  28. .
  29. ^ .
  30. .
  31. ^ a b Ewen Callaway (2 June 2008). "Simple-Minded Nautilus Shows Flash of Memory". New Scientist. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  32. ^ (PDF) from the original on 2012-10-29.
  33. ^ (PDF) from the original on 2011-08-17.
  34. .
  35. .
  36. .
  37. .
  38. ^ Arthur Willey (1902). Zoological Results Based on Material from New Britain, New Guinea, Loyalty Islands and Elsewhere: The anatomy and development of Peripatus novae-britanniae. University Press. pp. 778–9.
  39. ^
    PMID 21364981
    .
  40. .
  41. .
  42. – via www.academia.edu.
  43. – via sjpp.springeropen.com.
  44. .
  45. ^ Malkani, M.S. (2014) Records of Fauna and Flora from Pakistan; Evolution of Indo-Pakistan Peninsula. Abstract Volume of 2nd Symposium of IGCP 608 “Cretaceous Ecosystem of Asia and Pacific”, Tokyo, 4-6 September 2014, 165-168.
  46. S2CID 247532223
    .
  47. ^ a b c Gregory J. Barord, David J. Combosch, Gonzalo Giribet, Neil Landman, Sarah Lemer, Job Veloso et Peter D. Ward, « Three new species of Nautilus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the Coral Sea and South Pacific », ZooKeys, vol. 1143, 2023, p. 51-69.
  48. ^ Sweeney, M.J. 2002. Taxa Associated with the Family Nautilidae Blainville, 1825. Tree of Life web project.
  49. ^ a b Nijman, Vincent; Lee, Paige Biqi (December 2016). "Trade in nautilus and other large marine molluscs as ornaments and decorations in Bali, Indonesia". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 64: 368–373 – via ResearchGate.
  50. – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  51. ^ Freitas, B.; Krishnasamy, K. (2016). "An Investigation into the Trade of Nautilus". TRAFFIC Report. Washington DC, USA: TRAFFIC Network / World Wildlife Fund.
  52. ^ "Tuiga: a Samoan ceremonial headdress". Museum of New Zealand. Retrieved Aug 23, 2023.
  53. PMID 21347360
    .
  54. ^ Platt, John. "Nautilus Finally Moves toward Endangered Species Protection". Scientific American.
  55. ^ Fiji; India; Palau; the United States of America (2016). "Inclusion of the Family Nautilidae" (PDF). CITES. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-01-18. because all species are being proposed for listing, this proposal seeks to list the Family Nautilidae in Appendix II.
  56. ^ "Notice to the Wildlife Import/Export Community" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-28.
  57. ^ Platt, John R. (2016-10-05). "Great News for Rhinos, Pangolins, Parrots, Sharks and Chambered Nautilus". Scientific American. Retrieved 2017-01-15. The chambered nautilus—victim of intense overharvesting for their beautiful shells—has been added to CITES Appendix II, which means all trade will now take place under a permit system, allowing the industry to be monitored for sustainability.
  58. ^ Marcin Latka. "Abbot Kęsowski's cup". artinpl. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  59. JSTOR 537435
    .

Bibliography

External links