The most common Pacific Nautilus is known from Kwajalein from shells that have washed ashore on windward beaches. Most of these are in poor condition and could easily have drifted here with the currents from their known habitats farther west. The gas filled bouyancy chambers in the shell cause at least some shells to float after the death of the animal. Some of these beached shells, however, do look in quite nice condition and would seem unlikely to have been drifting long enough to float from the far western Pacific around to someplace east of the Marshalls to enable them to drift in from the eastern side. While this is anecdotal, we have spoken with someone who has seen fresh Nautilus shells around a fisherman's house on Ailinglaplap Atoll in the southern Marshalls. When he inquired about the shells, he was told that the fisherman caught them while deep bottom fishing just outside the atoll's deep water passes. The photo below shows a specimen not from the Marshalls (in fact, location unknown).
Created 13 September 2015
Updated 16 December 2023