Ecology, Distribution, and Population Characteristics of Nautilus

Abstract

Until recently, knowledge of the ecology of Nautilus was largely based on trapping results, observations of captured animals held in shallow water, and speculation and hearsay. Despite the limitations imposed by such sources, a considerable amount of information regarding the depth range, diet, and geographic distribution of Nautilus had been assembled by the turn of the century. This was ably summarized by Henryk Stenzel (1957), in a short contribution that includes an excellent annotated bibliography, in the Treatise on Marine Ecology and Paleoecology. This was followed a few years later by the excellent chapter by Stenzel (1964) in the Treatise on Invertebrate PaleontoJogy. The latter is a concise synthesis of almost everything known about Nautilus at that time.