page_title: Nautilus
section_title: Range and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Nautilus / Ecology / Range and habitat
caption_attribution_description: Original caption: "The influence of depth on capture rates was analyzed for 271 trapping events spread throughout all months of the year. The most effective capture depths were around 300 to 350 m, while no captures were recorded from 18 trapping efforts at depths &lt;150 m. Error bars (±1 standard error of the mean) are shown."
context_page_description: The nautilus is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina.
  It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus. Though it more specifically refers to species Nautilus pompilius, the name chambered nautilus is also used for any of the Nautilidae. All are protected under CITES Appendix II.
  Nautilidae, both extant and extinct, are characterized by involute or more or less convolute shells that are generally smooth, with compressed or depressed whorl sections, straight to sinuous sutures, and a tubular, generally central siphuncle. Having survived relatively unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, nautiluses represent the only living members of the subclass nautiloidea, and are often considered "living fossils".
  The word nautilus is derived from the Greek ναυτίλος nautílos and originally referred to the paper nautiluses of the genus Argonauta, which are actually octopuses. The word nautílos literally means "sailor", as paper nautiluses were thought to use two of their arms as sails.
context_section_description: Nautiluses are found in only 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 eggs, but it appears that, in at least some populations, the vertical movement patterns of these animals are far more complex. The greatest depth at which a nautilus has been sighted is 703 m (2,306 ft) (N. pompilius). Implosion depth for nautilus shells is thought to be around 800 m (2,600 ft). Only in New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands, and Vanuatu can nautiluses be observed in very shallow water, at depths of as little as 5 m (15 ft). 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). Nautiluses generally avoid water temperatures above 25 °C (75 °F).
caption: 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.[15]
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