nautilus
Magical living fossils
The Nautilus has evolved over the earth for hundreds of millions of years,
However, the appearance, habits and other changes are very small, known as the "living fossils" in the ocean,
It has high value in the study of biological evolution and paleontology, and is a protected animal at the national level.
01
Origin of the name
The Nautilus has a curly pearl-like shell with a smooth, curly shell. The shell consists of many chambers, which are divided into about 36 chambers, and the last chamber is occupied by the body, that is, the largest shell chamber known as the "living room". The other layers are called "gas chambers" due to their gas filling. The jacket is located inside the housing. There is a diaphragm separating the chambers, the chamber tube through the diaphragm to connect the chambers together, gas and water flow through the chamber tube to the outside of the shell, the organism thus controlling the buoyancy. Simple eyes, lens-free; No ink sacs, funnel bilobited, with motor function.
nautilus
The head and feet of the Nautilus are very developed, and the foot ring is born in front of the head, so it is a type of cephalopod. The structure of the head is also very similar to that of the squid , and there are many tentacles around the mouth and on the sides of the leading edge of the head , but there are no suction cups on the tentacles that the squid has.
The shell of the Nautilus is beautiful and the structure is quite distinctive, this calcareous shell is large and thick, symmetrical from left to right, rotating along a plane as a dorsal abdomen, spiraling. The shell has a smooth, grayish-white appearance, and many orange-red ripples at the back, and the shell is composed of two layers of material, the outer layer is a magnetic layer, and the inner layer is a lustrous nacre layer. The truncated Nautilus, like a rotating staircase, and like a pleated skirt, the compartments are spun apart from small to large, which determines the rise and fall of the Nautilus.
02
Behavioral characteristics
The Nautilus is usually active at night, resting on the oceanic substrate during the day, holding tentacles on the underlying rocks. Living on the surface of the ocean up to six hundred meters deep, the amount of gas must be able to be regulated to adapt the Nautilus to the pressures of different depths. The Nautilus is a carnivore whose diet is mainly small fish, molluscs, benthic crustaceans, and especially small crabs. After artificial domestication, it can be fed during the day and eaten frozen fish, squid and shrimp. In the night after the storm, the Nautilus would float in groups on the surface of the sea, known to sailors as "elegant floaters".
nautilus
03
Habitat
The Nautilus is basically a benthic animal, usually crawling slowly with its wrist at a depth of 100 meters. Secretions from the wrist can also be used to attach to rocks or coral reefs. After the storm, on a calm night at sea, the Nautilus floats on the surface of the sea, the shell is up, the shell mouth is down, and the head and wrist are completely stretched. These animals are nocturnal.
04
Survival status quo
There are not many surviving species of nautilus, but there are as many as 2,500 fossils. These populations, which flourished in the Paleozoic, constitute important stratigraphic indicators. Using these fossils that exist in different geological ages, geologists can study the evolution of animals, energy and minerals, and environmental changes related to them, and provide scientific data by using nature and transforming nature.
nautilus
Guigang Municipal Museum of Natural History is located in the Guigang Garden Expo Park on Yingbin Avenue in Gangbei District. The museum's collection is dominated by silicified wood, gloomy wood, shellfish fossil specimens and handicrafts. The museum has set up exhibition halls and interactive experience areas such as stone tree - silicified wood exhibition, Oriental sacred wood - gloomy wood exhibition, shellfish king - brick exhibition and so on.
Opening hours
9:00-12:00 a.m. daily Afternoon: 14:30-17:00
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (special circumstances such as holidays and other important activities will be announced in advance on the WeChat public account)
Museum hotline: 0775-4591229
Content source ▍ Guigang Municipal Museum of Natural History
Editor ▍ Yang Zhe
Editor-produced ▍ Guigang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Sports and Tourism Guigang Daily