Nautilus
Nautilus is the name of several species of marine animals, cephalopod mollusks of the Nautilidae family. These animals originated 65 million years ago and all of its close relatives are now extinct.
Fig. 1 shows a nautilus in its natural habitat. Fig. 2 is a schematic drawing of its chambers, which can be filled with water when the nautilus wants to move to a greater depth. When it wants to go closer to the surface the water is expelled from the chambers. This is a complicated process that requires the elimination of the sodium from the water in the chambers, accomplished by special enzymes. The osmotic pressure change makes the fluid flow against the ocean’s hydrostatic pressure.
The shell is very hard. At a depth of 400 meters, the usual depth in which the nautilus hunts, the hydrostatic pressure is 100,000 kiloPascals. It usually goes down to 600 meters when it wants to sleep. These are depths that divers cannot reach. It is estimated that the shell will implode at a depth of 800 meters.
During the day the nautilus goes down and sleeps. During the night it moves upwards and hunts. It moves very efficiently, using a directional water jet. It is carnivorous and uses its two powerful mandibles to crush even the toughest crustaceans.
Jules Verne was fascinated with the nautilus and chose its name for Captain Nemo’s submarine in his classical book Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, published in 1870. The name Nautilus was also given to the first American atomic submarine, in honor of Jules Verne.
My interest in the nautilus is his shape, almost identical to the human cochlea. It is one of the most beautiful shapes in nature, the logarithmic spiral.
Fig. 1. The nautilus in its natural habitat (Wikimedia commons).
Fig. 1 shows a nautilus in its natural habitat. Fig. 2 is a schematic drawing of its chambers, which can be filled with water when the nautilus wants to move to a greater depth. When it wants to go closer to the surface the water is expelled from the chambers. This is a complicated process that requires the elimination of the sodium from the water in the chambers, accomplished by special enzymes. The osmotic pressure change makes the fluid flow against the ocean’s hydrostatic pressure.
Fig. 2. A schematic drawing showing the chambers that the
nautilus uses to move into different depths.
The shell is very hard. At a depth of 400 meters, the usual depth in which the nautilus hunts, the hydrostatic pressure is 100,000 kiloPascals. It usually goes down to 600 meters when it wants to sleep. These are depths that divers cannot reach. It is estimated that the shell will implode at a depth of 800 meters.
During the day the nautilus goes down and sleeps. During the night it moves upwards and hunts. It moves very efficiently, using a directional water jet. It is carnivorous and uses its two powerful mandibles to crush even the toughest crustaceans.
Jules Verne was fascinated with the nautilus and chose its name for Captain Nemo’s submarine in his classical book Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, published in 1870. The name Nautilus was also given to the first American atomic submarine, in honor of Jules Verne.
My interest in the nautilus is his shape, almost identical to the human cochlea. It is one of the most beautiful shapes in nature, the logarithmic spiral.
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