How to ride a nautilus in Minecraft

To ride a nautilus in Minecraft, feed it Pufferfish or a Bucket of Pufferfish until red hearts appear, then put a Saddle on it and climb aboard. It works the same way in Java and Bedrock, on PC, console and mobile. Bring the fish and the saddle before you dive: the Breath of the Nautilus effect only starts once you're riding, and it pauses your air rather than refilling it.

You need the Mounts of Mayhem update or later: Java 1.21.11 or Bedrock 1.21.130 onwards, including the later 26-series releases. Those are the versions that added the nautilus mob. Older worlds must be opened in a compatible game version; a Nautilus Shell item is not a creature you can tame.

Find a nautilus without running out of air

Look underwater in an ocean biome. Mojang lists all ocean biomes as valid, so you do not need to find a coral reef specifically. On Bedrock, look between Y 38 and Y 58. Keep a route back to the surface while searching, because an untamed nautilus gives you no breathing protection.

Keep the nautilus in water: it takes suffocation damage on land. If you find a zombie nautilus carrying a trident-wielding Drowned, deal with the rider before approaching to tame the mount. Mojang describes the zombie variant as hostile while a hostile mob rides it and neutral without that rider. The ordinary nautilus avoids that extra fight.

Feed pufferfish, then fit the saddle

Hold a Pufferfish or Bucket of Pufferfish and use it on the nautilus. One fish may not be enough: keep feeding until red heart particles appear, which shows it's tamed.

Equip the tamed nautilus with your Saddle, then interact to mount it. Use your movement controls to steer and Jump to trigger its dash. Crouch to dismount, using whichever button your controls assign to it. A saddle is the practical check that you have reached the rideable stage, and it lets you control the journey instead of following a roaming animal.

Check the breathing effect before exploring

Once mounted, look for Breath of the Nautilus and check that your remaining air stops falling. It preserves the air you already have; it does not restore missing bubbles. Ride to the surface to refill before a longer dive, and plan your exit before dismounting underwater. Keep the mount afloat when you stop at shore, because the effect protects the rider's air supply, not the nautilus from being stranded.