Ask Dr. Barord (aka, Dr. Nautilus)...

[gjbarord]

Here goes... "Nautiluses represent a unique lineage of marine organisms that extends back over 500 millions. While cosmopolitan in the past, today they inhabit coral reef slopes throughout the Indo-Pacific to depths of 800 meters. For decades, nautiluses have been been fished for their ornamental shell with no regulation or management plans in place, resulting in significant population declines and local extinction. In 2017, the first international regulatory measures were put in place through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to protect nautiluses from overexploitation. The current methods used to survey nautilus populations include baited traps, baited remote underwater video systems, ultrasonic transmitters, demographic data, as well as phylogenetic and isotopic analyses. These studies not only provide data on nautiluses, but also the larger habitat and ecosystem as a whole."

 

[Nautiloid man]

Here goes... "Nautiluses represent a unique lineage of marine organisms that extends back over 500 millions. While cosmopolitan in the past, today they inhabit coral reef slopes throughout the Indo-Pacific to depths of 800 meters. For decades, nautiluses have been been fished for their ornamental shell with no regulation or management plans in place, resulting in significant population declines and local extinction. In 2017, the first international regulatory measures were put in place through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to protect nautiluses from overexploitation. The current methods used to survey nautilus populations include baited traps, baited remote underwater video systems, ultrasonic transmitters, demographic data, as well as phylogenetic and isotopic analyses. These studies not only provide data on nautiluses, but also the larger habitat and ecosystem as a whole."

thank you very much! and one final question, do we know the population of nautilus? ive found a 2011 article that said that they were at almost three thousand individuals. is that true?

 

[gjbarord]

thank you very much! and one final question, do we know the population of nautilus? ive found a 2011 article that said that they were at almost three thousand individuals. is that true?

There is one population off of Osprey Reef where Andy Dunstan calculated a possible population size of about 3000 individuals but beyond that, the only other population level information is from Barord et al 2014 where we calculated population abundance.