#Florida fighting conch

[vampirepumpkin]

Look at this little critter.

[pixilatedpixiedust]

The sea of social structure morphed into a gritty tempest. So fierce and foul the toads could not sing. The wicked wind plowed forward. Yet, the autonomy and authenticity of the sea’s creatures refused to siphon this capricious turbulence. The Florida Fighting conch, the Melon shell, the Cockle, the Calico and Bittersweet clam all gathered, glowing with solidarity and resistance. The multiplicity of their shells honoured and celebrated all walks of life. The current hissed a whisper, the way a secret kiss curls toes and awakens wondrous spirits. The toads began to sing again, and the stillness of the morning blossomed with colour. -identities within imposed borders

[audarcy]

12 and 13 for ur ask game? :>

12) what's your favorite type of seashell / beach forage?

i always considered a beach day a huge success if i could net even an unimpressive florida fighting conch. however, my favorite individual find is this horse conch my father picked up while diving on the morning of my 18th birthday.

he says its the biggest one he's ever seen, and of course he had no idea it would turn out this beautiful after he cleaned it. as you can see from the blog i linked above, they're not usually this solid vibrant orange after cleaning.

(disclaimer: my father is a professional fisherman and aware of conservation practices, please be informed of local laws before you go picking up shells anywhere, but especially conch species, as those tend to have pretty tight regulations around em)

13) favorite texture(s) and/or material(s)?

i guess this is my guilty confession but i do love the texture of those like, squish plushies. i do not like most squish plushies for their plush artistry! they are not well put together and their shapes are terrible! but the texture is soooo excellent.

[handsomejackai]

fucking losing my mind about these guys (species: florida fighting conch)

[thenativetank]

Native Fish Hunting - Interlude!

Okay the last post didn't have a lot of interesting going-ons, I'm sorry to say. But this one will have some neat stuff I promise! Me and the wife drove over to southern Alabama to do some kayaking and found ourselves at a place called Crab Island. You best bet I made a beeline for it once I saw it on the map! Lots of cool native species to be found there.

The most populous invertebrate species on the island was of course... crabs! I mean, not really crabs, but they have "crab" in the name. We found dozens of Green/Striped Hermit Crabs (Clibanarius vittatus), one of our native brackish species that sometimes find their way into the aquarium trade. We found many between 1 and 3-4 inches long, I'd wager. This guy is covered in live snails, as were many of the other larger ones. I think they were immature Fighting Conchs (Strombus alatus).

Anybody from the East Coast of the US is probably familiar with this species - the Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus)! We found many of these shells washed up and spied a few live specimens, but I only made half-hearted attempts to catch them bare handed so you'll have to forgive me. I'm not really in the mood to be pinched!

We didn't see many live aquatic snails, mostly just the shells, but we did happen upon this American Crown Conch (Melongena corona), far from its maximum size of 5 inches. Still, a very cool find and I believe the first time I've happened upon a still-living specimen.

We weren't limited to aquatic snails either! We saw a dozen or two of these Marsh Periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) which I found particularly interesting because we have the same species up north in Virginia. Not an active species by any stretch of the imagination but I've always found them neat.

My wife correctly reminded me that I did not have an Alabama fishing license, so I left my nets in the car. Which is kind of a shame because there were hundreds of these killifish species (Fundulus spp) and I'd like to have known which they were! I'm pretty certain they are Gulf Killifish (F. grandis) but iNaturalist suggests that Longnose Killifish (F. similis) is more common here. I don't think it's the latter, but hard to say!

I didn't need a license for this guy though - this tiny Pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) was deceased and must have just washed up moments before we arrived because it was in fantastic shape. Pinfish are probably one of the most common coastal fish in this area, but this was the first one I've found washed up like this.

I love these things. This is a skull of a Sea Catfish (family Ariidae), sometimes called Crucifix fish because of the shape of their skulls. This one was submerged in a pool of stagnant water, probably having been picked over by the fish here. iNaturalist suggests it is likely a Hardhead Sea Catfish, but given that Gafftopsail Catfish are also local, I'm not comfortable making such an ID.

As I picked around in the pool of water, my feet were nibbled on by many of the smaller fish here! I could make out some of the same killifish as before, but also Sheepshead Minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus) as well - another species we can find in VA. Didn't get much in the way of good pictures due to glare, but fun experience nonetheless.

While I found some Sargassum seaweed washed up here too, the more interesting specimen was this fella! I think it's a Graciliaria species, but really it's hard to tell. Right now people are going NUTS online about sargassum washing up in Florida and any searches for "seaweed in florida" is coming up with hundreds of hits for those articles. So I'm gonna take my best guess!

[theonlyadawong]

look at my favorite florida fighting conchs

[seabreeze2022]

Bahama Cruise 2022, Part 8, April 1. Dennis Cay anchorage and Staniel Cay.

We moved around to hide from an incoming front with winds kicking up from the NW. We are now anchored at the tip of the pen, just North West of Dennis Cay.

Everyone is packed in for the upcoming blow. The yacht on the left is named, “Checkered Past”. He is either a race car driver, or made his money selling Italian restaurant table cloths. Actually I looked up the owner and he was a race car driver. Emailed a friend from that circle who gave me the scoop on him.

Here I am cleaning the dishes off the back of the boat in saltwater. Then we give them a spritz of fresh water to remove the salt. This always impresses the nearby mega yacht guest who rent their boat for up to $200,000 a week.

This is our aft cabin. Food for three months gets stored wherever there is room. Just happens that the snacks get stored at the head of the bunk, right!

We did a dinghy trip clockwise around the west and north shore of Samson Cay. Looking over yonder just north of Sampson Cay is an island called, Overyonder Cay. It is advertised as an energy independent island with wind turbines, solar arrays and even a tidal generator. But the wind turbines are a blight on the esthetics of the Exumas.

We were here on the north end of Sampson Cay checking out the area for Jose Lacal. The company he works for is doing the planning for a resort here. Glad we get to see the island before it is developed. On the shore to the east is an old fishing boat up on the rocks.

Absolutely pristine beach.

What can you add to a beautiful beach, other than a beautiful woman.

Here we dinghied around to the inside of Sampson Cay and found a King Helmet shell. Our first in the Bahamas. These are not edible but have a beautiful shell. Back in the Florida Keys, we find maybe one dead shell worth keeping each year.

Here she found a juvenile conch (a roller) and juvenile milk conch.

In the afternoon we dinghied back to Staniel Cay.

This is one of several cisterns on the island. These were obviously hand dug since each that we saw were right beside the road. I think these were for fire fighting more than anything else.

Apparently this body was delivered to Staniel Cay graveyard several months ago but nobody got around to burying him yet. We will check him out next year.

This is a West Indian Shank Shell. Similar to our Horse conch in the Keys. This was right under our boat .

This is the wing keel under our boat. And the typical depth we anchor in.

S/V Sea Breeze, Dennis Cay anchorage, Exuma, Bahamas.

[lesbiangallagher]

thinking about how i found a huge ass horse conch while on vacation on like the second day. we also saw dolphins and florida fighting conch and fish and a skate!!!! i keep looking at my camera roll 😭 i miss it so much

[ask-muichiro-tokito]

while we are are here in the United States I would like to take you to some of the beaches and some notable places from my childhood.

takes him to Venice beach in Florida shelling and looking for fossilized shark teeth.later on in the same beach muichiro finds a large shark tooth he thinks which could either be from some sort of monster or dragon and reassure him that’s it’s actually from a extinct shark called a megalodon and finding that big of a tooth is a rare find.at the same time I show him my huge Florida Fighting Conch that I foun.we also managed to find a couple of sea dollars as well which he thought was some sort of currency for underwater life.

part 3 as where driving to South Dakota he is very bored by the endless cornfields used to seeing similar rice fields in Japan I explain to him that I come from a small city in South Dakota called Mitchell home to the worlds only corn palace.Muichiro things it is a actual palace made of corn later is disappointed to find out on the inside it’s a large sports stadium with the corn only being on the outside of the building.while in Mitchell before going to the black hills I show him the schools I went to and also take him to eat some American fast food I tell him to get the tenders with the cheese curds to eat from Culver’s because it’s really good we also after our meals get some ice cream from the same place,he tries to pay for the food but I told him I was paying.

we end up going to the black hills where he sees the bad lands thinking maybe a earthquake happened there a people might be injured I tell him it’s actually how it is and nothing bad happened there.we also stoped at wall drug where we bought something’s along with me buying him a surprise for later our final destination was Mount Rushmore we end up going on our plane to get back to Japan and on the plane at night I give a special surprise I got back at wall drug I tell him that it’s his birthstone a Peridot I kissed him on the cheek and hugged him and whispered in his ear that I love him and he means the world to me.we get back to Japan and we end up sleeping at his place cause we are exhausted from our trip.

optional/he can start dating me or kiss me back.he will ask me if you want to do so.

*He smiles* “I love you too…” *He says before kissing you back*

(i love these stories you come up with sm-)

[sawdust-emperor]

There's a species of Conch called the Florida fighting conch. It just has a little knife at the end of it's foot. Nature is so fucked up

[theorganizedmermaid]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 1 One Handpicked Florida Fighting Conch Strombus alatus Shell Approximately 2.5”.

[smell-the-dirt]

A family member's pet Florida fighting conch (Strombus alatus), name and gender unknown. This sedentary being is very unreactive to most stimuli.

[great-and-small]

Perusing my field guide while waiting for the rain to let up (I just wanna go birding pls) so enjoy these truly terrible jokes

[nyxshadowhawk]

Behold the blessings of Poseidon 💙

This is all from ONE shelling venture! I’ve never found this many amazing shells at once. After a storm is the best time to go shelling — I should really be thanking Zeus and Poseidon. Also, one of the most stunning skies I’ve ever seen! Orange-lit clouds on one end, rainbow descending into the sea on the other.

[little-beetle-bug]

✨🐚✨

[oars]

hey that things called a strombus alatus