Picture Reveals 'Big Horse Conch' Present in Florida?

For years, {a photograph} allegedly exhibiting a “big gorse conch” spread on social media.  In mid-October 2024, a Fb person claimed in a put up that its shell “can develop as much as 2 toes lengthy.”

(Fb person Earth Superb)

The picture has circulated throughout numerous platforms, together with Reddit, Pinterest, 9GAG, Tumblr, and Imgur, courting again to a minimum of since 2013. In December of that 12 months, one Fb put up with the photograph said, “It is the biggest species of gastropod in American waters.”

In abstract, the viral {photograph} is genuine and depicts Triplofusus giganteus, a member of the Fasciolariidae household, generally often called the “Florida horse conch.” 

Origins of the Picture

The {photograph} in query was taken by conchologist and photographer Amy Tripp on Dec. 12, 2011, at Kice Island, Florida. It was initially published on the Jacksonville Shell Membership’s web site, “fashioned in 1959 by native shell fanatics and integrated as a non-profit instructional group 5 years later,” related to the Conchologists of America (COA).

(www.jaxshells.org)

The {photograph}’s caption read:

On mud flat, Kice Island, simply south of Marco Island, Collier County, Florida 12/12/2011 | Digital picture by Amy Tripp

This picture was featured on The Climate Channel on 12/17/2013 of their video “YIKES! Earth’s Ugliest Canibal.”

Wayback Machine, an web archive, indicated the {photograph} has been accessible on the web site a minimum of since July 2012. Comparable pictures of Triplofusus giganteus have been additionally shared in 2012 and 2013.

Karlynn Morgan, President of COA, confirmed through e-mail the {photograph} is genuine. Tripp, the photographer, mentioned the horse conch seems big as a result of digital camera angle, and the whelk, its supposed meal, was roughly 8 inches lengthy. 

Conch or Not?

The horse conch has been Florida’s official state shell since 1969. In keeping with the Florida Museum of Natural History, “the predatory Horse Conch can develop to 24 inches lengthy,” making it the biggest gastropod in American waters.

Nevertheless, whereas the shell in query is commonly known and referred to because the “Florida horse conch,” it’s not a “true conch” by definition, as these are of the household Strombidae, whereas the horse conch is a member of the Fasciolariidae household.

Merriam-Webster defines a conch as “any of assorted giant spiral-shelled marine gastropod mollusks (as of the genus Strombus),” mentioning a genus belonging to the household Strombidae. In the meantime, the Cambridge English Dictionary gives a broader definition: “a tropical snail-like sea creature, generally eaten as meals, that lives in a big, spiral shell.”

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