Why does Nautilus have about 90 suckerless appendages?

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A blue-ringed octopus with bright blue rings on its beige body crawls over a rocky, coral-strewn seabed. — cephalopod Blue-ringed octopus (genus *Hapalochlaena*).

The Nautilus possesses approximately 90 small, suckerless, contractile appendages primarily for the purpose of capturing prey.12

Unlike modern cephalopods such as octopuses, squids, and cuttlefishes—which have evolved to be active, aggressive predators with specialized arms and tentacles equipped with suckers—the Nautilus is a primitive, less-specialized form. As a descendant of ancient nautiloids, it leads a relatively sluggish life, relying on its coiled external shell for protection rather than the high-speed, active hunting strategies seen in other cephalopods.13