Greater argonaut
Argonauta argo
- Scientific name
- Argonauta argo
- Group
- Cephalopods
- Rarity
- Epic
- Where to see it
- Mediterranean, Indo-Pacific & Red Sea
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least concern
Did you know?
The female greater argonaut secretes a thin, spiral shell, not to live in like a nautilus, but to hold her eggs. The male, tiny compared to her, never produces this shell at all.
What defines this group — Cephalopods
Octopuses, cuttlefish, squid and nautiluses: molluscs that became the most intelligent invertebrates.
- Eight arms — ten in cuttlefish and squid — set around a horny beak.
- Skin cells called chromatophores change colour and texture in a fraction of a second.
- Three hearts, and blue blood that carries oxygen with copper rather than iron.