Chambered Nautilus (Prehistoric by CollectA)

In 2020, CollectA started adding invertebrates to their Prehistoric line, including the trilobite Redlichia and the cephalopods Orthoceras, Passaloteuthis, and Pleuroceras. Interestingly, there were two extant invertebrates released that year as well, the Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) and the subject of today’s review, the chambered nautilus, Nautilus pompilius, also known as the emperor nautilus. Despite being in the Prehistoric line, we know today’s figure was intended to be the extant species, as ‘NAUTILUS POMPILIUS’ is stamped on the underside of the toy (see pic below). CollectA would countinue to add to their invertebrate collection with a Pravitoceras in 2021, a Cooperoceras in 2022, and an Anomalocaris is planned for next year in 2023.

In addition to being a Russian rock band (seriously, do a Google search; that will come up before the animal!), Nautilus pompilius is a shelled cephalopod from the South Pacific. Although what we currently know as N. pompilius might turn out to be a complex of several species. It is generally associated with reefs at depths of 0-750 meters (usual range 60-240 meters). The mollusk is probably best known for its shell, which in cross section reveals a near perfect equiangular spiral! The shell is made up of individual chambers that increase in size towards the openning of the shell, to accommodate the growing animal. A mature adult will have on average 30 of these chambers. There is a tube called a siphuncle that runs down the center of the chambers that releases a gas to help the nautilus maintain buoyancy. The chambered nautilus does not currently have an IUCN classification, but is listed as a CITES Appendix II species and is recognized as threatened by the Endangered Species Act. The main thread to N. pompilius is overfishing for their shells, which are used for jewelry and decor.

On to the figure. The maximum length of the figure is 10.5 cm. The shell diameter is nearly 6.0 cm for a scale of 1:2.5-1:3.5 for a large, mature specimen. The sculpt is spectacular, with realistic texturing on the shell and hood. The eyes and hypernome (siphon) are well sculpted, as are many of the tentacles (N. pompilius can have more than 90 tentacles!). I like that the figure doesn’t have a flat false-bottom and still stands on its own (with a slight lilt to the left, though).

The color of the shell is a creamy-yellow, probably a little more yellow than in the actual animal and is highlighted with dorsal brown stripes. There are some lateral brown and black stripes, which don’t appear to be accurate for the actual animal, however. The granular hood is accented with white maculae. The eye is made up of three colors and the base of the larger tentacles have maculae! Nice touch! With the exception of the lateral brown and black striping, it’s very well painted piece.

The chambered nautilus is not commonly made in toy/figure form. Bullyland made one back in 1999 (that was interestingly just stamped ‘shell’) but it has a flat false-bottom. Smaller versions on bases have been made by Japanese companies, such as Colorata and Kaiyodo. I initially had the Kaiyodo Deep Sea Odyssey figure in my collection. I didn’t invest in this CollectA figure, because of its size. However, earlier this year, I invested in all of the CollectA ‘prehistoric’ invertebrates, namely because they are well done and rarely-made or unique taxa, but also to support companies like CollectA is taking the risks to make such species. For a while, I maintained both figures in my collection, but have since removed the Kaiyodo figure to keep the non-arthropod part of my collection as synoptic as possible (and I have zero regrets in doing so). If scale isn’t an issue, CollectA’s chambered nautilus comes highly recommended!