Note
The large gastropod Strombus gigas (queen conch) inhabits the shallow
seagrass beds of Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean Islands, Bermuda
and the coast of Central and South America (Randall 1964). Since the
1970's the queen conch has been an important fisheries species in the
Caribbean region. The fisheries has grown considerable in the past 20
years; the landings for conch are estimated at 6,000 metric tonnes with a
potential value of 60 million dollars US (Chakalall and Cochrane 1997).
Overfishing of this species in many countries has necessitated the need
for management regulations.