WoRMS taxon details
Argonautidae Cantraine, 1841
- Genus Argonauta Linnaeus, 1758
marine, fresh, terrestrial
Not documented
Description The argonauts or paper nautiluses (a misnamer, use of which must be discouraged) are very abundant in tropical to...
Description The argonauts or paper nautiluses (a misnamer, use of which must be discouraged) are very abundant in tropical to warm-temperate waters of the world. A large number of nominal species exists, but the group needs revision to verify the species, perhaps 6 to 8 in all. The family is monotypic. The "shell", actually in incubation chamber for the eggs, is popular among collectors because of its beauty, coloration, sculpture and fragility. The largest species, Argonauta argo, attains a maximum size of nearly 30 cm shell diameter, it enters fish markets in India and Japan when fortuitous oceanographic conditions cause mass aggregations so that large numbers can be captured. Normally it is non-schooling, solitary group.
Sexual dimorphism very marked, with adult females relatively large, up to 10 to 15 times larger than adult males; hectocotylus of males autotomous (self-amputating) into the egg mass that is attached inside a large, external, calcium carbonate egg case ("paper nautilus shell") in which the female also resides, holding on to the case with extremely broad webs on the dorsal arms (l); suckers biserial; web weakly developed; no water pores; no shell vestige. [details]
Sexual dimorphism very marked, with adult females relatively large, up to 10 to 15 times larger than adult males; hectocotylus of males autotomous (self-amputating) into the egg mass that is attached inside a large, external, calcium carbonate egg case ("paper nautilus shell") in which the female also resides, holding on to the case with extremely broad webs on the dorsal arms (l); suckers biserial; web weakly developed; no water pores; no shell vestige. [details]
MolluscaBase eds. (2025). MolluscaBase. Argonautidae Cantraine, 1841. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=11785 on 2025-04-01
Date
action
by
2004-12-21 15:54:05Z
created
db_admin
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Nomenclature
basis of record
Finn J.K. (2013) Taxonomy and biology of the argonauts (Cephalopoda: Argonautidae) with particular reference to Australian material. <i>Molluscan Research</i> 33(3): 143-222. [details]
Taxonomy
status source
Taite, M.; Fernández-Álvarez, F.; Braid, H.; Bush, S.; Bolstad, K.; Drewery, J.; Mills, S.; Strugnell, J.; Vecchione, M.; Villanueva, R.; Voight, J.; Allcock, A. (2023). Genome skimming elucidates the evolutionary history of Octopoda. <em>Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.</em> 182: 107729., available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107729 [details]
Identification resource
identification resource
Lu, C.C. & Chung, W.S. (2017). <em>Guide to the cephalopods of Taiwan</em>. National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan, 560 pp. ISBN 978-986-05-2569-4.
page(s): 514 [details]
page(s): 514 [details]
Other
additional source
Finn J.K. (2014). Family Argonautidae. pp. 228-237, in P. Jereb, C.F.E. Roper, M.D. Norman & J.K. Finn eds. <em>Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cephalopod species known to date.</em> Volume 3. Octopods and Vampire Squids. <em>FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes [Rome, FAO].</em> 4(3): 353 pp. 11 pls.
page(s): 228 [details]
page(s): 228 [details]
Present Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Unreviewed
Description The argonauts or paper nautiluses (a misnamer, use of which must be discouraged) are very abundant in tropical to warm-temperate waters of the world. A large number of nominal species exists, but the group needs revision to verify the species, perhaps 6 to 8 in all. The family is monotypic. The "shell", actually in incubation chamber for the eggs, is popular among collectors because of its beauty, coloration, sculpture and fragility. The largest species, Argonauta argo, attains a maximum size of nearly 30 cm shell diameter, it enters fish markets in India and Japan when fortuitous oceanographic conditions cause mass aggregations so that large numbers can be captured. Normally it is non-schooling, solitary group.Sexual dimorphism very marked, with adult females relatively large, up to 10 to 15 times larger than adult males; hectocotylus of males autotomous (self-amputating) into the egg mass that is attached inside a large, external, calcium carbonate egg case ("paper nautilus shell") in which the female also resides, holding on to the case with extremely broad webs on the dorsal arms (l); suckers biserial; web weakly developed; no water pores; no shell vestige. [details]
