Queen Conch - What strange eyes you have!

Wordless Wednesday
Watery Wednesday

What: Queen Conch (Strombus gigas).
Click here to learn about the Queen Conch.

Where: I took these photos of the Queen Conch's eyes at Radar Reef,
on the north shore of Cayman Brac.


Strombus gigas



Strombus gigas
Click on the photos to enlarge.

26 comments:

  1. More info about the photos: The first photo shows they eyestalks and proboscis of the Queen Conch snail. The photo was taken while the shell was upended.

    The second photo shows the Queen Conch in its 'normal' position. The snail's eye is peeking out from under its shell as at crawls along the sand.

    Here is another post on The Right Blue that shows the eyes of a different species of Conch.

    Bobbie

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  2. Awesome shots as usual. You always take amazing pictures!

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  3. I didn't know the conch is a snail. What a great way to get through life. I wish I could see around my shell!

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  4. Excellent captures, thanks for sharing.

    Have a great rest of the week!
    Guy
    Regina In Pictures

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  5. Oh my goodness, what an interesting and educational post. Thanks a lot.

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  6. It took me some time to comprehend the creature. Amazing shot!

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  7. Looks very exotic :)
    This reminds me that I've got a water snail in my fish tank currently, which I'm not sure how it got there!!

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  8. Wow...what cool shots. Love them! Happy WW my friend.

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  9. Oh my goodness! Awesome! I've only ever seen these empty. Who knew such eyes lived inside of those. LOL! Wonderful shots and I'm so glad you shared these.
    :-)

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  10. What a great shot of the conch shell!

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  11. What an awesome shot!
    This is truly a treat having never seen anything other than an empty couch shell.
    Thanks for the previous post as well - wish everyone everywhere would take the advice. :)

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  12. Jeepers creepers, those are some peepers. At least the conch will hold still for a picture.

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  13. Oh wow, those are strange without doubt. Now I know where our artists get their inspiration for some of their alien eyes.

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  14. It's really cool seeing the eye stalks poking out.

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  15. Your underwater work always blows me away. I love the color in this ... just love it.

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  16. My goodness, those are truly magnificent photographs and great shots of a fascinating creature. I have heard of the Conch and seen those shells but never seen its eyes before. Thanks for a very interesting WW post.

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  17. I love this because I've always seen the empty conch shells, and nobody home. :) You get the opportunity to see some marvelous things, Bobbie-- thank you for sharing them with us.

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  18. For some reason that top picture makes me think of Sponge Bob Square Pants. Too much children's TV I guess.

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  19. It looks like it likes to have sand in there with it. Those eyes are something else - almost spooky!

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  20. What an amazing animal. I had no idea they had eyes. Like reading all your posts, and I didn't know there were shell poachers.
    B.

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  21. There you dug up another of your unique ocean creature photos. Bobbie, as you can see from all your blogger friends' comments...we are loving the photos!

    Mahalo and aloha, Pua

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  22. Wow!!! Very nice photos!
    Thanks for sharing on this creature. I like it.

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  23. Thanks to all our WW friends for visiting, and for your feedback. Judging from the comments, it looks as though most of you were not aware of what kind of creature lived in conch shells, and never realized that it had eyes (let alone very strange eyes!).

    @ Sandy C. - Love your comment about "seeing around your shell." Good point!

    @ Jenn T. - That is exactly why I got into underwater photography in the first place. I kept seeing all these wonders, and it was impossible to describe them to non-divers with words alone.

    @ Shannon - Given your houseful of little boys, I can understand why a lot of things would remind you of characters on kids' shows. ;-}

    @ Becky - Yes there are shell poachers, and in fact the worst offenders are not individual collectors, but commercial operations that dredge up whole reefs in order to harvest the shells that are sold in souvenir shops around the world.

    @ Pua - Mahalo nui loa.

    Bobbie

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  24. Those are eyes? Oh my gosh..I have never seen anything like that. What a fabulous blog you have...

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We welcome your comments and invite your questions. Dialogue is a good thing!

Bobbie & Jerry