
The Florida Fighting Conch
The Florida Fighting Conch, Strombus alatus Gmelin, 1791, is one of Southwest Florida’s best known and most abundant mollusks. So much could be said about that species, but today I want to focus on some differences between the juvenile (young) and the adult shells. In many species of the conch genus Strombus, the juvenile (young) shell differs considerably from that of the adult. The texture of the adult shell is usually smooth, and its color is very variable: there are different hues of orange,