Conchs

The queen conch (pronounced “konk”), or pink conch, is becoming endangered. The strombus gigas can grow to be quite large and has a pearly pink inside.
The shells I own (in the photo below) were purchased many years ago at a shell shop…can’t even remember where, but probably on Sanibel Island or Fort Meyers in Florida.
The Queen conch is an edible sea snail and a prized delicacy in parts of Florida and the Carribbean has been overly fished as a food source. This mollusk is found in the tropics from Bermuda to Brazil and fortunately some areas now have strict guidelines against over fishing. (See the links below for more info).

The Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC) has photos of baby conchs and the life cycle and info on what can be done to help relieve the problem. And read more at this site.

Here is your seashell lesson for the day.

This shell is one of my most interesting of my “Gastropods” or shells in one piece… interesting to me anyway because of the pretty color inside. I just recently discovered that it’s called a Strawberry Conch. However the picture I found online doesn’t look exactly like mine. Mine has the brown splotches which made me think at first that it was a cone shell of some kind.

But the inner orange and pink color really stands out and I didn’t see it in the Cone Shell.
Similar seashells are listed below:
Sozon’s Cone
Alphabet Cone
Florida Cone