Turks & Caicos Islands Information Directory - CONCH

The Caribbean Queen is the beautiful, pink lipped shellfish known as the Queen Conch Strombus gigas. The Queen Conch is found only in the shallow, clean saltwater that surround the islands of the Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda, Florida and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Archeologists have shown it was an important source of quality protein for people long before Columbus came to the New World in 1492.

Today conch is the preferred seafood in the Caribbean and Central America. Over 40 million conchs are harvested annually.

The waters of the Caicos Bank have supplied 4 million conch per year, but like everywhere else in the region, the supply is being over-fished and the harvest is declining. Conch are listed in the CITES Appendix 2 as endangered commercial species.

How do conch grow?

Conch grow their shell in a clockwise direction from the day they are born. Conch grow shell, using their orange colored mantel, to make the space for their body bigger. They do this for 3-4 years, until they become full-lipped adults.

Conch feed primarily on plant material. They are on the bottom of the animal food chain in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Conch are the favorite food for lobster, sting rays, tulip shells, crabs, octopus, turtles and porcupine fish. In the wild only one small conch out of each 500,000 eggs in a single egg mass might grow to adulthood. The remainder are eaten by other animals.

Conch Farming in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Conch farm technology has been under development at the Caicos Conch Farm on the Island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands since 1984.

Conch World Provo, is owned by the Turks and Caicos shareholder company, Trade Wind Industries, Ltd (TWI),and is the only one of its kind in the world. Twelve million dollars have been invested to develop conch farming to the commercial-scale it operates at today. Visit their site www.caicosconchfarm.com

For additional reading on the life of the Strombus gigas - "Caribbean Queen Conch", visit this site: http://www.mda.cinvestav.mx/biblioteca/strombus/QueenConch_eng/o-glosario_in.htm