Queen Conch righting itself

  • Diving from Fort Lauderdale beach I found a Queen Conch, which is kinda rare in this area. It was lying on the bottom upside down, the pink shell stood out against the reef background. Live Queen Conch may not be harvested https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/sea-shells/. As this one was lying upside down I assumed it was dead and collected it. When I got home and washed it out the partially decomposed animal flushed out, so it was indeed dead when I collected it. But it made me wonder why it died. I entertained the possibility that it was turned upside down, couldn't right itself and died, as there was no damage to the shell. I thought it unlikely though because being turned upside down must happen sometimes to these animals and nature must have given them a way to get out of that situation. So I did a search on this and was amazed at just how capable this animal is of righting itself.



    BTW while searching for a pic I was surprised to find Conch shells for sale on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Nautica…ma-Seashell/dp/B01GEJ6QDK . For this money the conch must come under a lot of pressure. I don't like it.


  • Maybe old age, nothing lives forever. Shell collectors sure put a lot of pressure on shell populations as everyone wants undamaged specimens and collecting them live makes achieving that aim more likely.

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