Nautilus

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.
~Jacques Yves Cousteau

I guess I took Latin at a formative age because my fingers get twitchy over the keyboard if I make the plural of words that end in "us" anything but "i." Same thing with "um" to "a." Anyway, we have more-than-one nautilus today. I didn't realize that they are being overfished:

There is growing concern that nautiluses are being greatly overfished not just for the shape of their shells, but also for the nacreous inner shell layer, which is used as a pearl substitute. Because there are currently no national or international regulations protecting this ancient creature, biologist Peter Ward, from the University of Washington, says "there is a horrendous slaughter going on out there." Their limited ecological range and the late onset of their sexual maturity combined with this overfishing has led to recent investigations into the need to protect them from possible endangerment or extinction though no regulations yet exist and thus the nautilus remains unprotected. -- Wikipedia

Check out two boys (and their mentors) who are working hard to Save the Nautilus.

S.E.A. Aquarium
photo by Sarah Starkweather

Nautilus shell
photo by Steph Matthews

Nautilus Sculptures, Applied Arts Museum in Budapest
Curious Expeditions

Nautilus
photo by Beth Hoffman

Nautilus
photo by Benson Kua

Chambered Nautilus
photo by Leroy Andersen

Cup made from a nautilus, Metropolitan Museum of Art
photo by Miria Grunick

A previous post on spirals