Nautilus
passiveTameableBreedableOurs, not the game's own: how a nautilus behaves. Bedrock v1.26.40.05 differs: spawn weight 5 on most Java biome lists (it runs from 2 to 5) against 25 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-22, and how
Added InOverview
The Nautilus is a passive mob in Minecraft, which means it will not hunt a player down, though its attack damage is not zero, because it uses that on other mobs or in self-defence.
Nautiluses make their home in the Overworld, turning up in Ocean, Deep Ocean, Cold Ocean, Deep Cold Ocean, and 2 other biome types.
Its defining trait is simple: drifts through open water and follows a player holding fish.
Stat-wise it sits at 15 health (7.5 hearts), dropping 1 to 3 experience on death.
It was first added in 1.21.11 and has been a fixture of Minecraft ever since.
For many players the appeal of the Nautilus is companionship: once tamed it becomes a loyal helper rather than just scenery.
Spawning
In the wild, the Nautilus is generated in Ocean, Deep Ocean, Cold Ocean, Deep Cold Ocean, Lukewarm Ocean, and Deep Lukewarm Ocean.
Because it appears across 9 different biomes, it is one of the easier mobs to track down, and heading to any of them should turn one up before long.
Spawns in ocean water, in the same roll as the other water creatures there.
Naturally spawned nautiluses will despawn over time when no player is nearby; naming one with a name tag or leading it away on a lead keeps it permanent.
With no attack to worry about, the Nautilus is something you gather or farm rather than fight.
Where the Nautilus spawns
Deep Ocean and Ocean are where it stands strongest: weight 5 on the water creature list and 71.4% of it, arriving 1 at a time. There it shares the list with Dolphin at 1 and Squid at 1, 7 weight together, of which 5 is nautilus. The other 7 biomes on its list run from 66.7% down to 29.4%.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
 Deep Ocean | 5 | 71.4% | 1 |
 Ocean | 5 | 71.4% | 1 |
 Deep Frozen Ocean | 2 | 66.7% | 1 |
 Frozen Ocean | 2 | 66.7% | 1 |
 Cold Ocean | 2 | 40% | 1 |
 Deep Cold Ocean | 2 | 40% | 1 |
 Deep Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 33.3% | 1 |
 Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 29.4% | 1 |
 Warm Ocean | 5 | 29.4% | 1 |
Drops
The Nautilus drop table breaks down like this:
Nothing here is guaranteed: a kill can give you 1 Nautilus Shell (occasionally, 5% chance).
You also collect 1 to 3 experience for every Nautilus you defeat.
These are well worth keeping. The nautilus shell it drops is the same shell a conduit needs, so an ocean with nautiluses in it is a conduit you do not have to fish for.
With nothing guaranteed, output is swingy: over many kills the averages hold, but any single Nautilus may give you little, so farm in volume rather than expecting a jackpot each time.
Because the Nautilus is harmless and breeds, the efficient long-term approach is a small enclosed pen where a breeding pair keeps replacing what you harvest, rather than hunting wild ones down one by one.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nautilus Shell | 1 | 5% | player kill |
Nautilus ShellNautilus attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
 Knockback resistance | 30% |
 Size | 0.875 x 0.95 blocks |
 Eye height | 0.275 blocks |
 Tracking range | 10 chunks |
 Movement speed | 1 |
| Follow range | 16 blocks |
 Experience | 1 to 3 |
 Health | 15 points |
 Attack damage attribute | 3 |
Where the Nautilus lands, it has company: the skeleton horse on the same 15 health.
Nautilus: 6.79% of its category, rank 16 of 52
On 9 of the 66 biome lists (9 spawn entries in total), and 6.79% of every spawn the game puts in its water creature group is a nautilus.
1280 nautilus kills fill a stack of 64 Nautilus Shell, because the ranges Minecraft Java 26.2 rolls for it come out at 0.05 per kill before Looting. 1 of those 1 rows (Nautilus Shell) only roll when a player lands the killing blow, so a nautilus killed by a fall or another mob averages 0 items instead of 0.05.
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 Nautilus Shell |
|---|---|---|---|
 golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 4 | 5120 |
 stone sword | 5 | 3 | 3840 |
| iron sword | 6 | 3 | 3840 |
 diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 3 | 3840 |
 netherite sword | 8 | 2 | 2560 |
 diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 2 | 2560 |
 netherite axe | 10 | 2 | 2560 |
Turned around, 7 unblocked nautilus hits empty a player's 20 health, 15% of the bar at a time, which is what the nautilus's attack damage attribute of 3 buys it.
Behavior & Combat
Behaviourally, drifts through open water and follows a player holding fish. A pufferfish tames it, after which it stays with you, and it breeds on the fish in your inventory or straight out of a bucket.
Hitting it barely moves it: 30% knockback resistance, where almost every other mob has none.
Its 15 health (7.5 hearts) comes with an attack damage attribute of 3 on paper, not because it hunts you, but because that is what its attack is worth when it does use it.
This is one of the tameable mobs. Feed it a pufferfish or a bucket of pufferfish.
To breed them, hand Cod to a pair of adults; they enter love mode and a baby Nautilus appears, maturing in roughly twenty minutes.
Bottom line: tame one and the Nautilus stops being an obstacle and becomes an asset you will want to protect.
Nautilus commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /summon minecraft:nautilus | Puts a nautilus on the block you are standing on. |
| /give @p minecraft:nautilus_spawn_egg | Hands you the nautilus spawn egg, so you can place nautiluses where you want them. |
| /kill @e[type=minecraft:nautilus] | Removes every nautilus that is loaded around you. |
Entity id minecraft:nautilus, spawn egg minecraft:nautilus_spawn_egg.
Nautilus farm
Everything about a nautilus farm follows the nautilus spawn rule. Spawns in ocean water, in the same roll as the other water creatures there.
Of the 9 biome spawn lists the nautilus stands on, Deep Ocean gives the nautilus its largest share at 71.4%, so a nautilus platform there fills faster than the same build anywhere else.
Breeding beats waiting on spawns here: cod given to two adults produces a baby, and the pen keeps working in a lit, walled space where nothing new would ever spawn.
Each kill is worth 1 to 3 experience and up to 1 nautilus shell, and that row only drops when you land the killing blow yourself, so a fall or a lava blade collects nothing, and that figure is what decides how big the nautilus farm has to be.
Nautilus version history
9 December 2025 is the day the nautilus arrived, in Minecraft 1.21.11, and the nautilus has been part of the game for 0 years since.
3 other mobs here came with it: the zombie nautilus, the parched and the camel husk. 83 of our 88 mobs are older than the nautilus, 1 are younger.
The nautilus numbers here come from Java 26.2, the version running now, and not from the one that introduced it.
What Nautilus sounds like
Turn subtitles on and every nautilus sound names itself in the corner of the screen. These are the 12 lines a nautilus can put there, and you can play any of them yourself with /playsound minecraft:entity.nautilus.ambient master @p.
| Sound | What you hear |
|---|---|
| entity.nautilus.ambient |  Nautilus clacks |
| entity.nautilus.hurt | Nautilus hurts |
| entity.nautilus.death | Nautilus dies |
| entity.nautilus.ambient_land | Nautilus clacks |
| entity.nautilus.dash | Nautilus jets |
| entity.nautilus.dash_land | Nautilus jets |
| entity.nautilus.dash_ready | Nautilus recovers |
| entity.nautilus.dash_ready_land | Nautilus recovers |
| entity.nautilus.death_land | Nautilus dies |
| entity.nautilus.eat | Nautilus eats |
| entity.nautilus.hurt_land | Nautilus hurts |
| entity.nautilus.swim | Nautilus swims |
Advancements that need Nautilus
One advancement in the game asks for nautilus by name.
Two by TwoBreed all the animals!
