Florida Fighting Conch v. West Indian Fighting Conch

[dave r]

Hi Foulton, this is a tricky one as both shells are so variable, there are some not even experts can tell apart! The soft parts are where the difference mainly, lies but as a rough, but not foolproof, rule of thumb; if the spines on the penultimate whorl are longer than those on the last whorl it will usually be Strombus pugilis, the West Indian Fighting Conch. If the opposite is true or if there are no spines at all, it will probably be Strombus alatus, the Florida Fighting Conch.
This only applies to shells collected in the North Caribbean, i.e. Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, those collected in the West indies or the Southern Caribbean will be pugilis as alatus does not occur there. If you send me your e.mail address I will send some pictures to you.
I hope this is helpful.
Dave