The Florida horse conch is very common and is found quite easily around the Florida coast in the Atlantic ocean.
Florida horse conchs are used as food and are said to taste "peppery." They also eat other bivalves that may sometimes be pests to man.
The Florida horse conch are carnivores that feed on bivalves and other snails.
These are marine animals and are found from North Carolina to Florida and into Mexico.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); atlantic ocean (Native )
The Florida horse conch lives among the sand and weeds in the shallow marine waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Aquatic Biomes: coastal
The Florida horse conch is the largest snail to be found in the American waters, sometimes reaching a length of two feet. It has ten whorls, and its shoulders bear large, low nodules. The operculum is a leathery brown color, the aperture is orange, and the animal itself is brick red in color.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Reproduction is sexual. The female attaches capsule-like structures to rock or old shell. Each capsule contains several dozen eggs for the young snails to feed upon. The capsule contains 5-6 circular rims, and they are laid in clumps. The young emerge and are an orange color, approximately 3.5 inches in diameter.
Triplofusus giganteus, previously known as Pleuroploca gigantea, common name the Florida horse conch, is a species of extremely large predatory subtropical and tropical sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies.[1][2]
Although known as a horse conch, this is not a true conch, as it is not in the family Strombidae.
With a shell length that can reach 60 cm, this species is the largest gastropod in United States waters,[3] and one of the largest gastropods in the world.
This large sea snail is found along the Atlantic coast of the Americas from the U.S. state of North Carolina to the north, to Yucatán in the Gulf of Mexico to the south.[3]
The animal can retract the soft parts entirely into the shell and close it with the operculum. The soft parts are bright orange in color.
This species shell length can reach 24 inches (60 cm).[3]
The outline of the shell is somewhat fusiform, with a long siphonal canal, and having up to 10 whorls.[3] Its sculpture present several spiral cords and axial ribs, some of which can form knobs on the whorls' shoulders.[3]
The shell color is bright orange in very young individuals. The shell often becomes greyish white to salmon-orange when adult, with a light tan or dark brown periostracum.[3]
This species dwells on sand, weed, and mud flats from the low intertidal to shallow subtidal zones,[3] in 20 foot (6 m) deep water.
Triplofusus giganteus is a carnivorous predatory species, and feeds on other large marine gastropods, including the tulip shell (Fasciolaria tulipa), the lightning whelk (Sinistrofulgur perversum), and the queen conch (Lobatus gigas) as well as some Murex species.[4][5] It may also present cannibalistic behaviour, feeding on smaller conspecific individuals.[4] It has been observed (in an aquarium setting) to eat small hermit crabs of the species Clibanarius vittatus.
A female can produce up to 400 capsules, each with 70 hatching juveniles per capsule which are laid in clumps. This species has a high lifetime reproductive output rate.[6]
Parasites of Triplofusus giganteus include trematode Lophotaspis vallei.[7]
The U.S. state of Florida declared it the state seashell in 1969. The shell is popular with shell collectors partly because of its great size.
In classic Mayan art, the Horse Conch is shown being utilised in many ways including as paint and ink holders for elite scribes, and also as a bugle or trumpet.
In southern Florida, Native Americans, including the Calusa and Tequesta, used the horse conch to make several types of artifact. The whole shell, or more commonly only the columella, was attached to a wooden handle and used as a hammer or woodworking tool. The body whorl was used as a drinking cup. The columella was also used to make plummets or sinkers.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license. Triplofusus giganteus, previously known as Pleuroploca gigantea, common name the Florida horse conch, is a species of extremely large predatory subtropical and tropical sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies.
Although known as a horse conch, this is not a true conch, as it is not in the family Strombidae.
With a shell length that can reach 60 cm, this species is the largest gastropod in United States waters, and one of the largest gastropods in the world.
