Did You Know?

Conch

• Queen conchs achieve full size at about 3-5 years of age, growing to a maximum of about 12 inches (30.4 cm) long and weighing about 5 pounds (2.3 kg).
• The queen conch is a long-lived species, generally reaching 20-30 years old; however, the lifespan has been estimated at up to 40 years.
• The queen conch's shell continues to thicken throughout its life.
• When carrying oxygen, the queen conch's blood appears blue because it contains the copper-containing molecule, hemocyanin.
• Queen conchs are found in groups of hundreds of individuals. They live in shallow, clear water at depths less than 245 feet (most often in water less than 100 feet).
• In the Caribbean, queen conchs are the largest species in the genus Strombus. They can grow to 12 inches in length and 5 pounds in weight.
• Eggs hatch after about 72 hours.
• A typical spawning season lasts for about six months and peaks from May to September in the Caribbean.
• Queen conch migrates to shallower water to spawn in areas of clean coral sand with low organic content.
• The main predators of queen conch include crabs, turtles, sharks, and rays.
• The conch fishery was once the second most valuable fishery in the greater Caribbean region, with an estimated 1992 harvest value of $30 million.
• Queen conch trade from many Caribbean countries is known or suspected to be unsustainable. Illegal harvest, including fishing of the species in foreign waters and subsequent illegal international trade, is a common and widespread problem in the region.
• The length of conch shells may decrease with age due to erosion of the shell. Shell thickness, however, increases with age, so much so that very old conch have significantly smaller body size than young counterpart.

Lobster

• Spiny lobster can grow to be 3 feet or more in overall body length.
• Spiny lobster is low in saturated fat and is a very good source of protein and selenium.
• The item marketed as "lobster tail" usually is a spiny lobster.
• Lobster blood is colorless. When exposed to oxygen, it develops a bluish color.
• A spiny lobster can stay alive out of water for several days if kept in a cool, moist environment. The lobster is a gill-breather, and moisture is essential to survival.
• The Caribbean spiny lobster occurs throughout the Caribbean Sea, along the shelf waters of the southeastern United States north to North Carolina, in Bermuda, and south to Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.
• Caribbean spiny lobsters are found from just below the water surface to depths of 1,650 feet. Larvae float in the water column.
• Maximum age is not well-known. Spiny lobster may live 15 years or more.
• In the southeastern U.S., females mature at about 2.75 to 3 inches carapace length. In the U.S. Caribbean, females are mature by 3.6 inches carapace length.
• Females have from 500,000 to 1.7 million eggs per spawning. The male deposits sperm packets on the underside of the female. She scratches them to release sperm as the eggs are extruded. The fertilized eggs are attached beneath her tail, at which time the female is referred to as "berried." Eggs hatch in about 4 weeks.
• Caribbean spiny lobsters migrate in single-file lines to deeper water in order to evade the stresses of the cold and turbid waters.
• The spiny lobster has a pair of horns above the eyes, which the American lobster lacks.

Quick Facts

• Both the conch and lobster adorn the national flag of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Conch and lobster export are the two largest export products from TCI.
• The Turks and Caicos is home to the only commercial conch farm and the world’s largest conch festival.
• It takes less than 10 seconds for a pair of lobsters to mate.
• An individual female conch can spawn up to 9 times in a single 7 month reproductive season.
• 1985 – The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's FMP for the Spiny Lobster in the U.S. Caribbean is implemented.
• 1990 – Amendment 1 adds a scientifically measurable definition of overfishing and an action plan to arrest overfishing, should it occur.
• 2009 – Amendment 4 establishes two minimum size restrictions for imports of spiny lobster into the U.S.; one is applicable to spiny lobster imported into any place subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. other than Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the other, more restrictive one applies to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; also prohibits imports of egg-bearing or stripped spiny lobsters and spiny lobster tail meat that is not in whole tail form with the exoskeleton attached; this amendment seeks to enhance the conservation of spiny lobster and improve the effectiveness of law enforcement related to this conservation.

For more information, visit the following websites:

Turks and Caicos Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR):
http://www.environment.tc/Lobster-Season.html

MarineBio - Caribbean Spiny Lobster:
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=155

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/car_spiny_lobster.htm and
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/queen_conch.htm

NOAA Fisheries, Office of protected Resources - The Queen Conch:
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/invertebrates/queenconch.htm

Turks and Caicos Tourist Board - About the Turks and Caicos Islands:
http://www.turksandcaicostourism.com/quick-facts.html

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Importing Queen Conch: what you need to know:
http://www.fws.gov/international/DMA_DSA/CITES/pdf/queen_conch.pdf