Jamaican Queen Conch

This image portrays a queen conch coming partially out of his shell onto my hand. It is a male adult conch, and, in the foreground, you can see the conch's eyes on the end of its eye stalks and the snout between the two eyes. The large part of the conch is the foot, a powerful muscle that helps the conch leap across the seagrass beds with its heavy shell. The conch grazes on the small algae that are on the seagrass blades. The conch help to keep the seagrass beds healthy. At the Florida Atlantic Harbor Branch Oceanographic Queen Conch Lab, the mission is to grow the queen conch for the sake of the species, seagrass ecosystem and for the people that depend on the fishery.