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Kōrero: Octopus and squid

Paper nautilus egg case

Image
Paper nautilus egg case

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Maggy Wassilieff rāua ko Steve O’Shea, Octopus and squid – Octopus in New Zealand, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/7928/paper-nautilus-egg-case (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Maggy Wassilieff rāua ko Steve O’Shea, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.