Nautilus: Solomon Islands, 2023-24

Capturing Nautilus is technically not difficult. The problem is too often they are not appropriately handled after capture. The critical factor is temperature. They must be kept cool at least 21C (70F) or colder. The other critical factor is to "burp" them before release: just tip them up underwater and let any trapped air escape.

Pressure change is not a problem; the pressure in their chambers is 1atm or less. It is natural for them to move into relatively shallow water at night, as we know from tracking data.

All Nautilus that we captured were released after taking measurements and photographs. All Nautilus are protected by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) so buying shells and bringing them back home is now illegal without proper permits.

Nautilus and Allonautilus shells have been known from the Solomon Islands for a very long time, and the drift shells are used in the wood carvings made by villagers (they do not trap and kill Nautilus!). Living Nautilus have only recently been observed from cameras mounted on baited traps (2019 trapping by Rick Hamilton, Greg Barord, Brian Greene & Marty Wisner), and from a limited number of traps deployed in recent years. The data collected will be useful to help determine the relationship of the Solomons Nautilus with those in PNG to the west, and Vanuatu to the southeast.

A second species in a different genus was also collected in the Solomons in 2019: Allonautilus scrobiculatus ("Fuzzy Nautilus"), previously known only from PNG. We included a scene from the 2019 video, but we did not collect any in 2023.

Видео Nautilus: Solomon Islands, 2023-24 канала Bruce Carlson