This shell was made by a female paper nautilus octopus to protect her eggs. Produced from a thin horn-like secretion from the tips of two tentacles, it resembles the shape of a true nautilus shell. Paper nautilus are tropical animals, but occasionally schools of them are carried in ocean currents to New Zealand, where they become stranded in shallow waters around the northern coast.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira
Reference:
79815
Permission of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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