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Queen Conch

Page history last edited by Dakota Albino 10 years, 10 months ago

Queen Conch

By Dakota Albino

 

Queen Conch

The Queen Conch also known as the Pink Conch, is a marine gastropod mollusk. This means that it is a larger species of vertebrates for example slugs, snails and whleks. The Queen Conch is one of the six species from the category Strombus. It possesses a hard conical outer shell which can be the colours white, cream and tan. It's shell can often grow up to thirty centimetres in length and fourteen centimetres in width. A Queen Conch can live up to thirty years if it's habitat is rich in it's main food resource.

 

Habitat

The Queen Conch is located throughout the Caribbean. They are commonly found in sand or rubble areas and in seagrass meadows. Adult Queen Conchs are found  in deeper reef areas whereas juveniles will tend to live in more shallow seagrass beds. The Queen Conch will live in ranges of three to a hundred feet.

 

Predator Adaptation

Queen Conches graze the seagrass beds of the Caribbean. They do not eat the seagrass they scrape off the covering algae. This is accomplished by sticking out their sharp and claw-shaped gill cover and securing it in the sand ahead and pulling itself forward with it's muscular feet. Over a night Queen Conchs are able to cover four hundred feet of seagrass. In a Queen Conch's life it will develop a feature that

algae 

 

Prey Adaptation

The Queen conch is the largest in the Conch family and has significantly less predators than juveniles or other species. The Queen Conchs predators are the following, common octopus, Hermit crab, Spiny lobster, Tiger shark and the Eagle ray. For example the Hermit crab will use it's claws to try and separate the animal it from it's shell.

Hermit Crab

 

Symbiotic Interactions

Queen Conchs do not have symbiotic interactions with marine life.

 

Comparison(Cone Snail)

Similarities

  • Both live in tropical and warm environments
  •  Both are apart of the mollusk family
  • Both use shells as homes and protection
  • Both hide in sand and rubble

Differences

  • Cone Snail is venomous
  • Cone Snails are less commonly found in deep water
  • Queen Conchs are commonly found in deep water  

Cone Snail

 

 

 

 

 

Resources

"What Conchs Eat and Who Eats Conchs." What Conchs Eat and Who Eats Conchs. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2013.

http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/Conch%20diet%20and%20predators.htm

 

Queen Conch (Strombus Gigas) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries. NOAA, 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 May 2013.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/invertebrates/queenconch.htm 

 

Kennedy, Jennifer. "Seagrasses." About.com Marine Life. About.com, n.d. Web. 29 May 2013.

http://marinelife.about.com/od/habitatprofiles/p/seagrasses.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (1)

Andrew Ratcliff said

at 6:55 pm on Jun 3, 2013

ADD PHOTOS! But good!

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