Coral Zombie Nautilus in Minecraft: Spawning, Taming, and Mount Setup

Snapshot 25W45A dropped a new undead twist on a familiar deep-sea creature: the coral zombie nautilus. If you have been wondering where this thing spawns or how to make it carry you around the seafloor, the answer is short, but it does involve a polearm-wielding skeleton.

Zombie Nautili in a Nutshell

A zombie nautilus is the undead cousin of the normal nautilus. It can appear in any ocean biome, and it never spawns alone: a drowned rider armed with a spear comes attached. While the rider is alive, the pair stays aggressive. Take out the rider and the mount calms down, becoming passive and ready to be tamed with pufferfish or a bucket of pufferfish.

Aside from the rider gimmick, zombie nautili behave like their living relatives, with two caveats: they cannot breed, and they burn in sunlight just like other undead mobs.

The game currently ships with two variants: the standard zombie nautilus and the coral one we are looking for here.

Finding the Coral Variant

The coral zombie nautilus only spawns in warm ocean biomes. If that label does not ring a bell, picture the ones full of coral reefs and tropical fish. Warm oceans tend to sit next to deserts and badlands, so use those land biomes as a search compass when you are sailing around looking for one.

The biome is different, the texture is different, but the rider situation is not. A drowned spear-wielder will still be on its back, so bring a weapon and some sort of breathing plan. Once the rider drops, the same taming rules apply: pufferfish or a bucket of pufferfish.

Saddling Up and Adding Armor

Once tamed, a zombie nautilus accepts a saddle and a piece of nautilus armor. The saddle turns it into a proper mount. The armor cuts incoming damage and, importantly, shields the mob from sunlight, which is the difference between a long ride and a sudden cloud of smoke.

Nautilus armor is not craftable. Much like horse armor, it shows up as loot inside buried treasure chests, shipwrecks, and underwater ruins. If you find the diamond version, you can take it one tier higher: a smithing table, a netherite ingot, and a netherite upgrade template will turn it into netherite nautilus armor.