Taking Inventory: Nautilus Shell

However these shells arrived in the Overworld, there are three ways you can get hold of one today, and unfortunately none of them are easy. Very occasionally you’ll catch one while fishing – and the chance increases a teeny tiny bit with every level of the Luck of the Sea enchantment that you have on your fishing rod.

Second, a wandering trader (those noisy guys with the llamas) will sometimes have a handful of nautilus shells that they’re willing to part with for the princely sum of five emeralds each. This is a solid option, though they only have a maximum of five in stock at a time.

Finally, Drowned have a small chance to spawn holding a nautilus shell in their off-hand. When killed, they’ll drop it, and you can pick it up. Farming Drowned is probably the most predictable way to get hold of nautilus shells, but it’s still gonna take a while.

Got one? Great! Er, but you’ll need seven more to do anything useful with them. Got eight? Amazing! It’s conduit crafting time! Enjoy your EXTREME UNDERWATER POWER, but remember that with EXTREME UNDERWATER POWER comes EXTREME UNDERWATER RESPONSIBILITY.

There are nautilus shells in the oceans of our world too, and – even more excitingly – there are actually nautiluses living in them. These cool creatures are sometimes considered “living fossils”, having survived pretty much unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. That’s how you know you’re doing something right in life.

Generally, these enigmatic creatures live in the deepest parts of coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific, several hundred meters below the surface. But in a few places, like Vanuatu and New Caledonia, the cold water near the surface means they can be seen in much shallower depths – as little as five meters.

Biologically speaking, nautiluses are actually a type of cephalopod, which means they’re related to squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish. However, they’re the only creature of this type with an external shell – and they can retreat entirely into that shell when necessary and close the opening with their tentacles. Honestly, there are some days when I’d like to do that too.

Anyway, don’t go hunting for living nautiluses in Minecraft, because you won’t find any. But definitely snag a shell whenever you have the opportunity – you never know when you’ll need it later!