Noury's Argonaut

Taxobox
name = Noury's Argonaut


image_caption = Eggcase of "Argonauta nouryi"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Cephalopoda
ordo = Octopoda
familia = Argonautidae
genus = "Argonauta"
species = "A. nouryi"
binomial = "Argonauta nouryi"
binomial_authority = Lorois, 1852
synonyms =
*"Argonauta gruneri"
Dunker, 1852

Noury's Argonaut ("Argonauta nouryi") is a species of pelagic octopus. The female of the species, like all argonauts, creates a paper-thin eggcase that coils around the octopus much like the way a nautilus lives in its shell (hence the name paper nautilus). The shell is usually approximately 80 mm in length, although it can exceed 90 mm in exceptional specimens; the world record size is 95.5 mm. [cite book | author = Pisor, D. L. | year = 2005 | title = Registry of World Record Size Shells | edition = 4th edition | publisher = Snail's Pace Productions and ConchBooks | pages = p. 12]

"A. nouryi" is best known from the waters off the western coast of North America, from Panama to Baja California, but it has also been reported from the south west Pacific, as far away as the Coral Sea. It is considered one of the rarest of the "Argonauta" species. This, combined with the aesthetically pleasing elongated nature of the shell, make "A. nouryi" one of the most sought after argonaut species by conchologists.

The type specimen of "A. nouryi" was collected near the Marquesas Islands. The type repository is unknown. [ [http://www.mnh.si.edu/cephs/newclass.pdf Current Classification of Recent Cephalopoda] ]

References

* Sweeney, M. J. (2002). [http://www.tolweb.org/accessory/Argonautidae_Taxa?acc_id=2464 Taxa Associated with the Family Argonautidae Tryon, 1879.] "Tree of Life web project".

External links

* [http://www.cephbase.utmb.edu/spdb/speciesc.cfm?CephID=698 CephBase: Noury's Argonaut]
* [http://www.manandmollusc.net/MolluscMomentPast/argonauta_nouryi.html "Argonauta nouryi" at ManAndMollusc]
* [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Argonauta Information on the genus "Argonauta"]