Page 167 - It Can't Be True! Animals! - Unbelievable Facts About Amazing Animals (DK)

GROWING AND BREEDING 167

ENDURING CRAB
Today’s
nautilus has Horseshoe crab fossils have
barely changed been found from 445 million
in almost years ago, revealing that the
half a billion species has remained virtually
years. unchanged since then. This
crab’s tough shell has enabled
it to survive mass extinctions.

The chambered nautilus shows striking physical
similarities to fossil finds from 400 million years
ago – long before the dinosaurs and when almost
all complex animal life lived in the oceans. It is a
relative of squids and octopuses. Together, they
make up a group of molluscs called cephalopods.

Ninety thin tentacles ...and today!
are attached to the
25-cm (10-in) long
body of the nautilus.
The tentacles grab
prey such as crabs,
400 million years ago...
while the horny beak
bites through shells.

The nautilus lives
inside a shell, using
air chambers in the
shell to stay afloat and
jet propulsion to move
through the tropical
waters of the Indian
and Pacific oceans.

Triggerfish swim with
nautiluses today.

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