Rockhampton people have the chance to come face to face with a creature dubbed ‘the sexy wee beast’ when they visit the CQ Multicultural Fair and CQU Rockhampton Open Day on Sunday, August 14.

CQU researcher and lecturer, Dr Billy Sinclair has compiled a movie about the sea creature called the nautilus, best known for living in large and beautiful shells.

The many-tentacled creatures have survived for millions of years, live hundreds of metres below the surface, have a body that feels like shoe leather and have a liking for raw chicken.

Dr Sinclair uses raw chicken to bait the traps that he sends down to catch the nautilus, so he can study them in his laboratory.

“Because the shells are so beautiful, there’s a danger that too many people will catch them and they might be driven to extinction,” he said.

“We need to find out as much as we can about them, because if they’ve survived for so long as a species they must have some special features we can learn from.”.

Dr Sinclair’s research recently featured on ABC TV’s Four Corners and on ABC Radio’s Queensland Drive. It was on the latter program that the term “sexy wee beast” was coined.