Conchs

The Chank and Shankha Conchs

I recently wrote about the horse conch and it’s impressive size, but the West Indian Chank shell can be very large as well, up to 14 inches long. It is shaped similarly to the horse conch but is a thick, heavy shell that is yellowish brown in color and begins at the tip being narrow and then flares out with widely spaced “ribs” in the middle. The opening is long and wide.

At first, as I researched info for this post, I thought it was used in Hindu ceremonies, but I’ve found that it is another chank conch which has a different shape but is also quite large.

The Shankha (turbinella pyrum) is an Indian word which means “divine conch” and may be known as the “sacred chank”. Found in the Indian ocean, it is commonly a left-handed shell (like the lightning whelk) It is rare to find a right-handed one, so of course they are sought after for use in the hindu ceremonies where they are used as ceremonial trumpets. This shell has been given names according to the side of the opening. The more common, left handed ones are Vamavarti and the rare, right-handed are named Dakshinavarti.

The American Museum of Natural History has a picture of a chank shell – or more likely a shankha shell -that was used to make a trumpet (photo) for use in Buddhism in Tibet as part of religious rituals. The shell is part of the bronze and copper trumpet, and although you can’t see the opening of the shell in the photo, the description says that this particular shell spirals to the left. It is ornately carved and includes gems and even a matching box, that is also carved and was used to “give the instrument a deeper and more resonant sound”.

The shankha is always depicted in the upper left hand of the 4-armed Hindu God, Vishnu.

Also view carved Shankha shells at Wikipedia.

The Strawberry Conch Shell

This is the only Strawberry conch shell I have and I’ve been trying to find out about it for a while now.

They can be all white outside or with marking like mine in these photos, but they all have a dark orange, red or pink inner lining with a dark brown or black border at the opening.

It is shaped a lot like a cone shell, but I don’t believe it is called a cone. I’m not sure.

Conch is the name given to a wide range of medium and large size sea snails in the Strombidae family.

Seashell Identification: About the Florida Crown Conch

The Crown Conch (Melongena corona) seashell, sometimes called a King’s Crown , is one I see often when out on the islands beach-combing. Because of it’s distinctive pointy spikes around the outer swirls of the shell, I can easily recognize it.

crown conch seashell — Crown conch with abundance of spiky points all around

It’s a pretty shell with horizontal brown, reddish or gray, and off-white stripes on the adults. I have not seen a living crown conch. Juvenile shells can be other colors like the purple-blue one below – what a beauty!, and the tan one at the end of this post.

blue crown conch — Blueish-purple juvenile crown conch shell

Usually, when I see them, the colors are partially obscured by slime – as are most of the shells I find. The part of the shell that has been dragging along the sand is most colorful.

crown conch shell — Crown conch underwater – look closely and see the hermit crab carrying it along

This recent find stood out to me because of all those spikes! This is really a lot, compared to the ones I usually find (photos further down the page).

Juvenile crown conchs will not have those big spikes, but will grow them later on. I found a small one (photo below) but it had a hermit crab inside. So it will never grow up. Hermit crabs don’t kill mollusks that make the shells, but they never miss an opportunity to take possession of an empty shell!

hermit crab in juvenile crown conch shell — Juvenile crown conch (I believe) with hermit crab inside

Once the mollusk dies, hermit crabs move in. In the area where I fish and beach-comb the bottom is sometimes mucky, and that carries over to the shells. Often they are not pretty. Slime and even oysters can be growing inside, or barnacles on the outside.

Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 6.51.17 PM — Home to a hermit crab

The huge shell below was one I collected because it was empty. It is broken and worn and the mollusk was obviously old when he died. He’d had plenty of time to create this oversized shell. Max size of the crown conch is 5 inches, and this one measured 6 inches plus. Because it’s not very pretty, it now has a home in my garden. Empty ones can be cleaned, but I didn’t go nuts with this broken one. The green and black slime fades away once the shell sits in the hot sun.

huge crown conch — Huge, old crown conch shell – 6 inches

As you can see in many of the photos on this page, the spikey shells also have some spikes near the base of the shell.

Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 6.51.25 PM — Spikes top and bottom

I live in central Florida on the East coast. Over on the Gulf coast lives a lucky lady who gets to see some awesome seashell happenings.
Here’s a video of baby King’s Crown shells hatching.