For those who have never prepared conch — the giant sea snail with a spiral shell that doubles as a trumpet — Compton likes ...

Betty Boone, at the beach pouring water from a giant horse conch shell - Daytona Beach, Florida, 1948. Photograph by State Archives of Florida. Drilling for data.

However, one of the local species, the Horse Conch, is the largest shell-making mollusk in the Atlantic Ocean (and Gulf of Mexico), so finding a very large Horse Conch can happen once in a blue moon.

For years, a photograph allegedly showing a "giant horse conch" spread on social media. In mid-October 2024, a Facebook user claimed in a post that its shell "can grow up to 2 feet long ...

If it’s a horse conch, in addition to the large size, you’ll feel the little bumps that run along the middle. Is this a common practice to look for shells when you are in the Gulf? REYNA : We ...

Leroy Glinton, a fourth generation conch fisherman, stands on a pile of discarded shells outside his home in McLean''s Town, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.

Conch shells and symbols of the shellfish are everywhere: A giant statue of a conch shell greets tourists at Lynden Pindling International Airport in the capital city of Nassau.

Leroy Glinton, a fourth generation conch fisherman, stands on a pile of discarded shells outside his home in McLean's Town, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.