EUROPE: It’s the kind of touching reunion biologists dream about: More than 30 years after finding and identifying a then-new species of nautilus off the coast of Papua New Guinea, Peter Ward finally got a chance to see it once more.
Allonautilus scrobiculatus is a species of nautilus, cousin to squids and cuttlefish. They skim the sea floor in warm waters and have a distinctive spiral shell — and in Allonautilus’ case, that shell grows a strange furry, slimy material. Ward, a biologist at the University of Washington, told NBC News in an email that the covering may help prevent predators’ teeth from getting a grip on the animal.
This rare chance to observe Allonautilus came when Ward and a group of colleagues set up bait hundreds of feet below the surface and set a camera to keep watch day-round. Two species of the elusive nautilus appeared until a sunfish came along to bully them away from the food.
Ward and colleague Bruce Saunders of Bryn Mawr College identified Allonautilus in 1984, and Saunders made another brief sighting in 1986, but it hasn’t been recorded since.
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