We just learned about the Common Octopus.
Another type of cephalopod is the Chambered Nautilus.
These cephalopods look sort of like snails, and they live in shells like a snail.
Inside their shells are chambers in a spiral shape where their body parts are squished into.
The top of their outside shell is dark on top and light on the bottom.
This helps them hide from predators, because looking down from above they blend in with the dark sea, and looking up from below they blend in with the sky above.
The nautilus grows from an egg, but they don't grow as a larvae like a lot of other cephalopods. They grow right from the start with a tiny shell, and the shell grows with them inside the egg until they hatch, about 1 inch long.
It is a meat eater, and it eats shellfish, but also eats garbage food floating around in the water or on the bottom of the sea.
They float up and down by changing how much water is in their shell.
If they want to go down, they suck in more water, and if they want to go up they spit some out.
You can think of it like a boat, that fills up with water and sinks, or empties the water and floats.
(from: wikipedia - chambered nautilus)
(from: wikipedia - chambered nautilus)
Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Panamanian Golden Frog
