Queen Conch
The Queen Conch (Strombus gigas) (both males and females are called the Queen conch) is one of our favourite marine creatures, and a mainstay of our Bahamian diet. But conch are commercially extinct throughout much of their range and are at risk in the Bahamas. Many of the conchs that are harvested here in the Bahamas are juveniles that have not yet reproduced.
Conch classification
The Queen conch is a marine invertebrate animal belonging the Phylum of Molluscs (Mollusks). The word mollusk comes from the Latin word ‘mollis’ which means soft.
Mollusc features
- Soft unsegmented body
- Bilaterally symmetrical
- Most have a shell
- They have a mantle – which is a fold in the body wall that lines and secretes the shell
- They have a muscular foot or tentacles that are often used in locomotion
- They live in a range of habitats from deep sea to land
Examples of mollusks – Over 120,000 different species of mollusks have been identified including- squid, octopus, chitons (curbs), limpets, snails, clams, oysters, mussels, spanish dancers, slugs and of course conch.
This phylum has 8 classes. Conch belong to the class Gastropoda. Gastropods have one shell, a well developed head with tentacles and eyes in some species.
Habitat – The Queen Conch is found in warm shallow waters in seagrass beds of the Bahamas and Caribbean.
Anatomy – The body of the conch I divided into 3 main parts:
- The head which bears two sets of tentacles. The larger pair bears a sensitive eyespot (eye) at its tip. The smaller pair is used for its sense of smell and touch.
- The visceral mass which contains the conchs organs e.g. digestive and excretory organs
- The foot which bears a horny claw called an operculum which acts as a trap door by closing the entrance of the shell. The operculum is also used to assist in locomotion. As the conch moves, it digs its operculum into the sea floor and leaps, pulling the shell behind it.
The shell – The conch’s mantle is a thin layer of tissue located between the body and the shell. It creates the shell by secreting calcium carbonate that it extracts from sea water. As the conch grows so does its shell, the shell is produced in a spiral manner until the conch reaches sexual maturity. At that time the shell begins to flare backward. Once the shell has attained its maximum size it begins to thicken.
Diet – Conch are herbivores, they use a tough tongue-like organ called a radula in its proboscis to feed. As it feeds, thousands of tooth-like protrusions called denticles scrape algae into its mouth.
Conch Conservation
Conch were overfished in Florida and it is now illegal to take a single one. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) has suspended trade in conch from the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Honduras in an attempt to protect the species from over-exploitation. Read more.
In The Bahamas it is illegal to catch a conch before it has a fully-developed flared lip because this indicates that the conch is sexually mature and has therefore had the opportunity to reproduce. This regulation helps to ensure that we have conch in the future. Taking juvenile conch can result in the collapse of the conch fishery. Please abide by this law and encourage others to do the same.
Marine Reserves are an important way to protect our conch stocks. Marine Reserves are protected areas where conch can reproduce. The young of the conch inside a marine reserve will repopulate areas outside the reserve. The Bahamas Department of Fisheries is in the process of building a network of reserves around the country. BREEF is working with the Department of Fisheries, The Bahamas National Trust and The Nature Conservancy to teach people about marine reserves and to make these reserves a reality. Please get involved and help support this initiative.
Conch links:
http://www.strombusgigas.com