Palau Nautilus

The Palau nautilus (Nautilus belauensis) is a nautiloid mainly found off of Palau in the Western Carolines. It can be found on fore reef slopes, at depths of 95-504 m (311-1,653'), though typically preferring a range of 150-300 m (492-984'), where water temperatures stay around 16.6 °C (61.88°F) and do not go much lower than 9.4 °C (48.92°F). N. belauensis are highly mobile, epibenthic scavengers and opportunistic predators which rely mostly on scent for finding food. They are active both diurnally and nocturnally within their preferred depth ranges, although most shallow-water incursions are, generally, nocturnal events that coincide with greatly diminished fish activities.