Small Nautilus Shell

The wonderfully shaped nautilus shell in its natural state has brown tiger like stripes over a creamy white base colour, but just below the surface lies glistening Mother of Pearl.

The images shown show the actual shell to be dispatched and on this example some of its naturally occurring Mother of Pearl is showing towards the base revealing a glimpse of its glistening colours.

The naturally occurring iridescent pearl refracts light between pinks and colourful shades of blue green.

Related to the octopus, squid and clam, the spiralled nautilus shell is divided into chambers with the animal occupying the outermost chamber.

A newly hatched nautilus begins life with about four chambers and develops an average of 30 chambers by adulthood. The inner chambers are filled with gas and help the nautilus to maintain neutral buoyancy. By adding liquid to the chambers it is then able to dive.

The nautilus is also considered to be a "living fossil" as they have undergone little change in over 400 million years.

They dominated the ancient seas before the rise of fishes and appeared about 265 million years before the first dinosaurs. In prehistoric times there were about 10,000 different species of the nautilus, but only five species have survived to the present day.

Common to the Western Pacific.

As a natural specimen, all shells will have acquired minor marks and imperfections during their lifetime (just like us) and these form very much part of the individual character and charm of these special shells.

As this makes this item quite unique, the photographs shown are of the actual item to be supplied.

Size:   12.5 x 7 x 9 cm  tall    (5 x 2.75 x 3.5 inches tall)

Sorry this species is not available for international sales.