Queen Conch Shell

Pink Conch or Queen Conch is found in the shallow waters of Bermuda; south Florida to the West Indies. The shell is 8 to 12 inches, heavy and solid with a short conical spire. This is the shell that for generations has been used by families of seafaring men as a doorstop or for decorating the borders of flower beds. It is one of our largest and heavest gastropods, individuals sometimes weighing more than 5 pounds. It is a commercial shell and large numbers are exported from the Bahamas for cutting into cameos; the scrap material is ground into powder for manufacturing porcelain. When traveling through Florida one often sees hughe piles of this shell heaped up beside a gas station or tourist lodge. They make popular Florida souvenirs, even though all of them are imported from one of the West Indian islands. ELECTRONIC IMAGE ONLY! (no slide available)