Nautilus Shell request for educational purposes

[Teuthman]

Hello Everyone,

I work for a non profit aquarium in San Francisco that runs educational programs for the public. I am putting together a project that involves talking about how cephalopods have shown the reduction of an external shell from the nautilus shell down to the complete absence of a shell in the octopus. I would like to have physical examples of all of these if possible. I have cuttlebones and squid pens available but not a nautilus shell. What would be the best and most ethical way to acquire a nautilus shell? Would anyone here be willing to donate or know someone willing to provide one to our institution?

Thank you very much and I hope everyone has a great day.

Sincerely,

Jon

 

[tonmo]

This is a good place to ask. I will tweet this thread to see if we can extend some visibility. I have one - only one... I had two, and I raffled one away at TONMOCON VII. These were originally in the possession of dear friend @monty who has passed so I intend to keep the one I have. I don't know of anyone else with one off-hand, maybe @gjbarord?

 

[Teuthman]

Thank you so much for the reply. Test runs of the presentation have shown me that people are interested in seeing the evolution of cephalopod shells and I hope I can have physical samples to display. Thank you again!

 

[DWhatley]

I also gave away (for an educational project) the second of the two I had and want to keep the other. @gjbarord any spares?

 

[gjbarord]

Thank you so much for the reply. Test runs of the presentation have shown me that people are interested in seeing the evolution of cephalopod shells and I hope I can have physical samples to display. Thank you again!

@Teuthman

I LOVE some great shell education! I have some for you for sure. The only thing I would ask, more of suggest, is if you could add a little something on Save the Nautilus (www.savethenautilus.com), for the presentation. It is the non-profit that I work with for my nautilus work and would be great to get a conservation perspective out there - you could say the shells were provided by Dr. Gregory Barord of Save the Nautilus, etc.....
Send me a PM and we can get shipping information figured out.

And of course, any photos of the display you create would be great to share here!

Thanks,
Greg