What is the rarest Nautilus?
While the golden nautilus is the rarest species, it’s not the only target. All chambered nautiluses are valuable, as are other mollusks, and “deep water mining” for the shell trade is obliterating them all. In the past beachcombers gathered only shells, but now demand for perfect shells is encouraging deep-water trapping of nautiluses. Since these animals mature late and produce few offspring, shell collecting results in a significant decline in nautilus (and other mollusc) populations.