Ask Dr. Barord (aka, Dr. Nautilus)...

[shuemmerich]

Greetings,

having recently rediscovered my enthusiam for cephalopods, in particular shelled ones (extinct and extant), through Danna Staaf's awesome book "Squid Empire", I have made up my mind to donate to a conservation organization that is concerned with the protection of Nautilus. Would Save The Nautilus | A conservation organization be a good starting point, or is there any better way to help these amazing creatures live through the Anthropocene?

Thank you in advance and best wishes,

Stefan

 

[DWhatley]

Yes, that is an excellent (in many ways) group to support. Hopefully, @gjbarord will chime in with a few links to some of the things they have already done.

 

[gjbarord]

Greetings,

having recently rediscovered my enthusiam for cephalopods, in particular shelled ones (extinct and extant), through Danna Staaf's awesome book "Squid Empire", I have made up my mind to donate to a conservation organization that is concerned with the protection of Nautilus. Would Save The Nautilus | A conservation organization be a good starting point, or is there any better way to help these amazing creatures live through the Anthropocene?

Thank you in advance and best wishes,

Stefan

Hi @shuemmerich ,

Thank you so much for reaching out!!!

Save the Nautilus is the only dedicated organization out there specifically aimed towards nautilus conservation. We are a full non-profit organization with all funds raised going directly to the research efforts needed to continue protecting them. Our team volunteers all of our own time to the website, outreach efforts, the field work, social media, and other areas. We do not take any salary or overhead from funds raised through Save the Nautilus. I think it's an important distinction that I wanted to share so you know that 100% of your donation goes to the research.

We are also on Facebook (The Nautilus Files and Save the Nautilus), Twitter (@gjbarord), and YouTube (The Secret Life of Nautiluses).

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you!
Greg

 

[shuemmerich]

DWhatley and Greg,

thanks for your quick feedback, much appreciated! So, obviously "Save the Nautilus" is the right choice.

Thank you very much, Greg, for all your efforts and for being the mouthpiece of the Nautilus. In my opinion, raising awareness about the Nautilus' situation is very important; from my experience as a teacher, quite a lot of people know the Nautilus and appreciate its beauty but are unaware of its endangered status.

 

[Matt8431]

Can a octopus see red LED?

 

[NiceAsANautilus]

@gjbarord i know it's been quite a while since you saw this, but have you been able to restudy if the movement the nautilus was performing an act of movement or something else? And if you havent do you plan to study it if you get the time and funds to? Also, off topic, but whats your favorite nautilus fact?

 

[gjbarord]

Can a octopus see red LED?

Check this thread out. can octos see red light?

Greg

 

[gjbarord]

@gjbarord i know it's been quite a while since you saw this, but have you been able to restudy if the movement the nautilus was performing an act of movement or something else? And if you havent do you plan to study it if you get the time and funds to? Also, off topic, but whats your favorite nautilus fact?

@NiceAsANautilus (great username by the way!)

Are you referring to the nautilus moving out of its chamber as discussed above? I haven't been able to look more into. I imagine the best way to do that would be to have some kind of time lapse camera on a nautilus system 24 hours a day. We currently do not have any nautiluses in our lab but hopefully that will change soon... It is definitely something I want to continue to look into. Just haven't had any opportunities at the moment.

Now, to my favorite nautilus fact. There are so many!!! My #1 favorite nautilus fact is... that they are able to regulate their internal pressure by varying the amount of cameral fluid and gas in their chambers. This means that even at 500 meters, their internal pressure is near 1 atmosphere, what we experience at the surface. Of course, if most nautiluses live below 100 meters, which has about 11 atmospheres of pressure, why do nautiluses do this? Does it help to explain that they used to live in much shallower waters throughout their history? Is it related to the vertical migrations many populations do each day?

What is your favorite nautilus fact??? What is everyone's favorite nautilus fact?

Greg

 

[NiceAsANautilus]

@gjbarord one of my favorite facts is that they were able to survive for so long, and i really like the fact that the fuzzy nautilus was able to remain undiscovered, or unseen for about 30 years! i think it's amazing that these creatures are still able to survive, however, i still don't know almost anything about the nautilus as i just got back into marine biology, and cephalopods. But you did say it would hopefully change soon about having them in the lab, but if what i read on the internet is true (which is highly improbable) but dont they die in captivity within a year?

 

[gjbarord]

@NiceAsANautilus

Yeah, the fuzzy nautilus is an awesome animal that we really know nothing about, other than that it is still alive.

Nautiluses in human care live longer than one year. There certainly are instances of mortality in less than a year, but you'd have to also ask more questions about how old the nautilus was, what it's conditions were, how it died, etc....

Greg

 

[lil.lion]

Hello Dr. Barord,

My name is Lillian and I am a sophomore student at Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland.
In the biology course in which I am currently enrolled, we have a project titled “Ask A Scientist.” For this project we are to interview a scientist in a field of biology in which we are interested.
I find nautiluses to be extremely intriguing creatures and I would absolutely love to learn more about them and how I can help with conservation efforts!
I was wondering if you could spare about 15 minutes over the next few weeks to answer 8 quick questions for me through email about your past research. I understand that you have a very busy schedule, but please let me know if you will be able to help me.

Thank you so much for your time and for you efforts in saving the nautilus.

Sincerely,
Lillian
@gjbarord

 

[gjbarord]

Hello Dr. Barord,

My name is Lillian and I am a sophomore student at Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland.
In the biology course in which I am currently enrolled, we have a project titled “Ask A Scientist.” For this project we are to interview a scientist in a field of biology in which we are interested.
I find nautiluses to be extremely intriguing creatures and I would absolutely love to learn more about them and how I can help with conservation efforts!
I was wondering if you could spare about 15 minutes over the next few weeks to answer 8 quick questions for me through email about your past research. I understand that you have a very busy schedule, but please let me know if you will be able to help me.

Thank you so much for your time and for you efforts in saving the nautilus.

Sincerely,
Lillian
@gjbarord

Hi Lillian, Would LOOOOVE to help you. Please feel free to send me your questions as you have them at my email. Can't wait! Dr. Barord