Scientists in Florida will soon play matchmaker to help prevent the iconic sea creature known as the queen conch from going extinct.
From its tasty gooey innards to its beautiful pink-lipped shell, the queen conch has long been a revered figure of marine life in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys — that is, until recently. The number of queen conch have declined rapidly due to overfishing and hurricanes.
While protections have been put in place, the queen conch is still at risk of extinction due to several adult populations being buried in the sand and wiped out during superstorms, such as Hurricane Irma in 2017. The scattering and displacement have resulted in queen conch being unable to find each other and breed.
The species mates in warm shallow waters in a “necking session” that lasts hours. It is a marine snail, after all, and nothing it does happens quickly.
Queen conch females lay eggs on the seafloor, with babies hatching a few days later. While these babies are initially barely perceptible to the naked eye, they can grow up to 12 inches long and weigh up to 5 pounds. They don’t usually reach sexual maturity for two years or so.
To ensure that this special, googly-eyed creature does not disappear, scientists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are planning to help queen conch pair up and propagate the species this mating season, which runs from April to October.
They aim to round up hundreds of queen conch from nearshore waters in the Keys and drop them near populations further offshore, thanks to proceeds from the nonprofit group, Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida.
By relocating queen conch to deeper waters, the hope is that they will not only find mates, but they will be healthier due to the more stable water temperatures, as a researcher named Gabriel Delgado told Vox.
The project will also help glean valuable information about the queen conch by tracking how well the relocated adults reproduce. It could help inform future endeavors and restore this species before it is too late.
A reverence for native fauna extends to Texas, where one rancher has been doubling as a conservationist for Texas Horned Lizards, as recently covered by The Dallas Express.
Between urban development and insecticides wiping out food sources, the iconic critter has been struggling to maintain its numbers. In a bid to help it out, Brian Wright paired up with researchers at Texas Christian University’s Horny Toad Project to develop lizard nesting sites across his 9,500-acre White Ranch in Mason.