 QUEEN CONCH ( STROMBUS GIGAS) IN THE EXUMA CAYS, BAHAMAS by Ned Smith, Ph.D., and Patrick Pitts Division of Marine Science, HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION |
The queen conch supports an
important commercial fishery in many parts of the Caribbean. It is a member
of a very large and diverse group of organisms called gastropod mollusks.
Conch inhabit shallow-water seagrass beds in the Caribbean, Bermuda, and
the Florida Keys.
Conch have been utilized as a food source for thousands of years and they were very important in the diet of the Tiano Indians of the Caribbean. Huge piles of old conch shells, called conch middens, can be found on many islands in the region.  Unfortunately,
queen conch stocks have been severely depleted in all areas except Belize,
some parts of the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos. In many areas only
the deep seagrass beds contain conch. Besides overfishing, many small
countries have their conch fishing season coinciding with the animal's
reproductive season (April through November), which further aggravates
the problem.
Clearly, the conch fishery in the Caribbean is in trouble and basic research on the ecology and physiology of the animal is needed in order to improve management and to revive the slumping fishery. Researchers at the Caribbean Marine Research Center on Lee Stocking Island, Exuma Cays, Bahamas have been investigating the life history and ecology of the queen conch since the late 1980s. The Exuma Cays comprise an island chain approximately 250 km long in the central Bahamas. The Exumas are a primary source of queen conch in the Bahamas fishery. |
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