Nautilus belauensis
| Nautilus belauensis | |
|---|---|
| Nautilus belauensis in Palau | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota | 
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Mollusca | 
| Class: | Cephalopoda | 
| Subclass: | Nautiloidea | 
| Order: | Nautilida | 
| Family: | Nautilidae | 
| Genus: | Nautilus | 
| Species: | N. belauensis | 
| Binomial name | |
| Nautilus belauensis Saunders, 1981 | |
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 95m-504m (311'-1,653'), though typically preferring a range of 150m-300m (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.