Shell Savvy

My shell is a conch shell of the family Strombidae and the genus Strombus. The word 'conch' is a derivative from the French language of a Greek word pertaining to any kind of shellfish or shell. It's scientific name, Strombus gigas, means 'giant spiral shell.'

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Mesogastropoda
Family: Strombidae
Genus: Strombus
Species: gigas

Queen Conchs usually mate in warm shallow waters in the Caribbean on sandy surfaces behind coral reef areas. When the embryos leave the egg, they float for about 3 weeks until they are about the size of a grain of sand and lose their swimming ability. They then sink to the bottom of the ocean floor. The water movement and sandy environment probably contributes to some of the weathered texture on the outside of the shell.

The shell is a growing organism while the mollusk inside it is alive. The konk is a gastropod, an invertebrae, that is a soft-bodied mollusk protected by a very hard shell. It grows 3 inches a year during its active growth phase, maturing at about 8 inches long.