# Where Do Chambered Nautiluses Live?

> Where chambered nautiluses live: Deep reef slopes of the tropical Indo-Pacific, native range cues, and human overlap. Status Least Concern.

- **Species:** Chambered Nautilus (*Nautilus pompilius*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Carnivore and scavenger (shrimp, crabs, carrion)
- **Habitat:** Deep reef slopes of the tropical Indo-Pacific
- **Lifespan:** 15–20 years
- **Top speed:** Slow; drifts by gentle jet propulsion
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/nautilus/where-do-nautilus-live/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/nautilus/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) is a cephalopod often called a living fossil, whose relatives have looked much the same for hundreds of millions of years. It lives on deep reef slopes of the tropical Indo-Pacific inside a coiled shell about 20 to 25 cm across, drifting and swimming slowly by gentle jet propulsion. It scavenges and hunts shrimp, crabs, and carrion, can live 15 to 20 years, and is listed as Least Concern.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a sighting hotline. This page is native range and habitat.

## The chambered shell

The nautilus is named for its beautiful spiral shell, which is divided inside into a series of sealed chambers. As the animal grows it builds new, larger chambers and moves forward into the outermost one, leaving the empty rooms behind. A thin living tube called the siphuncle threads through the chambers, adjusting the balance of gas and fluid inside them to control buoyancy. This clever system lets the nautilus hover almost weightlessly in the water without constant effort, and the shell itself grows to about 20 to 25 cm across.

## Help protect the Chambered Nautilus

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/nautilus/where-do-nautilus-live/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.