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Argonauta argo

Specimen image via iDigBio · CC0

EntityQ39514· pop 32· linked from 34 articles

Argonauta argo

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species of mollusc

Species

Least Concern

common paper nautilus

SPECIES

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumMollusca
  3. ClassCephalopoda
  4. OrderOctopoda
  5. FamilyArgonautidae
Habitatmarine
Observations recorded4,143

via GBIF · IUCN

Museum specimens

Specimen records
565
With media
114
Family
Argonautidae
Collections
PRI, SIO, UCMP, UM-RSMAS, USNM, TCWC
Recorded in
United States, South Africa, Mexico, Philippines

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Argonauta argo, also known as the greater argonaut, is a species of pelagic octopus belonging to the genus Argonauta. In some parts of Guangdong, China, this species is locally known as “白海马巢” While the name literally translates as "white sea-horse's nest", the term "sea-horse" in regional Sinitic languages actually refers to sand crabs (such as ghost crabs) rather than the animal commonly known as a seahorse, and bears no relation to horses. In Taizhou, local elderly speakers refer to its shell as "sea-horse shell", while the soft body is called "octopus".

A. argo was the first argonaut species to be described and is consequently the type species of the genus. The type specimen of A. argo was collected in the Mediterranean Sea and is deposited at the Linnean Society of London.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Argonauta argo” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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