page_title: Conch
section_title: Food
hierarchical_section_title: Conch / Food
caption_attribution_description: English: Large eastern conch for sale at a California seafood market in 2009. By ChildofMidnight, please attribute
context_page_description: Conch is a common name of a number of different medium- to large-sized sea snail or shells, generally those of large snails whose shell has a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal.
  In North America, a conch is often identified as a queen conch, indigenous to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Queen conchs are valued for seafood and are also used as fish bait.
  The group of conchs that are sometimes referred to as "true conchs" are marine gastropod molluscs in the family Strombidae, specifically in the genus Strombus and other closely related genera. For example, Lobatus gigas, the queen conch, and Laevistrombus canarium, the dog conch.
  Many other species are also often called "conch", but are not at all closely related to the family Strombidae, including Melongena species and the horse conch Triplofusus papillosus. Species commonly referred to as conchs also include the sacred chank or shankha shell and other Turbinella species in the family Turbinellidae. The Triton's trumpet may also be fashioned into a horn and referred to as a conch.
context_section_description: The meat of conchs is eaten raw in salads or cooked in burgers, chowders, fritters, and gumbos. All parts of the conch meat are edible. 
  Conch is indigenous to the Bahamas and is typically served in fritter, salad, and soup forms. Conch is also eaten in the West Indies (Jamaica in particular); locals in Jamaica eat conch in soups, stews, and curries. Restaurants all over the islands serve this particular meat. In the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Haiti, conch is commonly eaten in curries or in a spicy soup. It is locally referred to as lambi. In Puerto Rico, conch is served as a ceviche, often called ensalada de carrucho (conch salad), consisting of raw conch marinated in lime juice, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, green peppers, and onions. It is also used to fill empanadas.
  In Panama, conch is known as cambombia and is often served as  ceviche de cambombia, consisting of raw conch marinated in lime juice, chopped onions, finely chopped habaneros, and often vinegar.
  Conch is very popular in Italy and among Italian Americans. Called scungille (pl. scungilli), it is eaten in a variety of ways, but most often in salads or cooked in a sauce for pasta. It is often included as one of the dishes prepared for the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  
  In East Asian cuisines, conch is often cut into thin slices and then steamed or stir-fried.
  Eighty percent of the queen conch meat in international trade is imported into the United States. The Florida Keys were a major source of queen conchs until the 1970s, but the conchs are now scarce and all harvesting of them in Florida waters is prohibited and individuals who have harvested them have been punished by law enforcement.
caption: A group of large eastern conchs or whelks of the species Busycotypus canaliculatus for sale at a California seafood market
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:25 14:59:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9716", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9841", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:01:25 14:59:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:01:25 14:59:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "193557/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3456", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9230", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}