Lobatus gigas, commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of large edible sea snail, as a marine gastropod mollusc in the family of true conches, the Strombidae. This species is one of the largest molluscs native to the tropical northwestern Atlantic, from Bermuda to Brazil, reaching up to 35.2 centimetres (13.9 inches) in shell length.
The shell is characterized by its large size, solidity and sculptured design with large thorns. The mouth is large, calloused, has great lip colors white, pink, yellow and orange. Sifonales Channels, anal and notch estromboide are wide and well marked.[6][7][8]
Lobatus gigas is native to the tropical Western Atlantic coasts of North and Central America.[9][10][11] It lives in the greater Caribbean tropical zone.[10][12][13]
The shaded area of this map indicates the geographical distribution of Lobatus gigas.
Aruba, of the Netherlands Antilles; Barbados; all of the islands and cays of the Bahamas; Belize; Bermuda; North and northeastern regions of Brazil (though this is contested by some authors);[14] Old Providence Island in Colombia; Costa Rica; the Dominican Republic; Panama; Swan Islands in Honduras; Jamaica; Martinique; Alacran Reef, Campeche, Cayos Arcas and Quintana Roo, in Mexico; Puerto Rico; Saint Barthélemy; Mustique and Grenada in the Grenadines; Pinar del Río, North Havana Province, North Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, in the Turks and Caicos Islands and Cuba; South Carolina, Florida, including East Florida, West Florida, the Florida Keys and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, in the United States; Carabobo, Falcon, Gulf of Venezuela, Las Aves archipelago, Los Roques archipelago, Los Testigos Islands and Sucre in Venezuela;[8][15][16] St. Croix in the Virgin Islands.
↑Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae, 10th ed., vol. 1. 824 pp. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae (Stockholm, Sweden). p. 745.
↑Clench, W. J. (1937). "Descriptions of new land and marine shells from the Bahama Islands." Proceedings of the New England Zoölogical Club16: 17–26, pl. 1. (Stated date: 5 February 1937.) On pages 18–21, plate 1 figure 1.
↑Smith, M. (1940). World Wide Seashells: illustrations, geographical range and other data covering more than sixteen hundred species and sub-species of molluscs (1 ed.). Lantana, Florida: Tropical Photographic Laboratory. p. 131.
↑McGinty, T. L. (1946). "A new Florida Strombus, S. gigas verrilli". The Nautilus60: 46–48, plates. 5–6: plate 5, figs. 2–3; plate 6, figs. 7–8.
↑Petuch, E. J. (1994). Atlas of Florida Fossil Shells. Chicago Spectrum Press: Evanston, Illinois., xii + 394 pp., 100 pls. On page 82, plate 20: figure c.
↑Warmke, Germaine L. & Abbott, R Tucker. (1961): Caribbean Seashells. Livingston Publishing Company. Narbeth. Pennsylvania.
↑Abbott, R Tucker (1974). American Seashells. D. Van Nostrand Reinhold. Ltd. New York. 663.
↑ 8.08.18.2Macsotay O. & Campos. R. 2001. Moluscos representativos de la plataforma de Margarita. Editora Rivolta. Valencia. 280p. ISBN980-328-808-3
↑Clench, William J. & Abbott, R. Tucker. 1941: The genus Strombus in the Western Atlantic. Johnsonia 1. October 25, 1941. Pp:1-16.
↑ 10.010.1Although the species undoubtedly occurs in more individual places than are listed here, the countries, regions, and islands where this species has been recorded within the scientific literature as occurring are, in alphabetical order:Eustrombus gigas (Linnaeus, 1758). A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca, Malacolog Version 4.1.1.. Retrieved 27 September 2009.
↑Moscatelli, R. (1987). The superfamily Strombacea from Western Atlantic. São Paulo, Brazil: Antonio A. Nanô & Filho Ltda. pp. 53–60.
↑Weil M, Ernesto y Laughlin Guevara, Roger. 1982. Por pesca indiscriminada el Botuto o Guarura a punto de desapareser. Ciencia al dia. 21(2):14-17
↑Capelo, Juan Carlos. y Buitrago, Joaquin. 1998. Distribución geográfica de los moluscos marinos en el oriente de Venezuela. Memoria de la Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle LVIII(150):109-160.
↑Carvajal Flor, y Capelo Juan Carlos. 1993. Los moluscos de la plataforma Margarita-Coche-Tierra Firme (Venezuela), su distribución y abundancia. Memoria de la Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle LIII(140):159-175.
↑Ramos G. Hilda. y Robaina G. German. 1994. Contribucion al conocimiento de los moluscos gasteropodos y pelecipodos de la Bahía de Mochima. Edo. Sucre. Venezuela. Memoria de la Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle LIV(141):95-106.
↑Abbott, R Tucker (1954). American Seashells. D. Van Nostrand Company Inc. xiv + 541 p. New York.
↑Cervigon, Fernando. y Velázquez Efigenio. (1981): Nombre vernáculos de organismos marinos del Estado Nueva Esparta. Fernando Cervigon Editor Caracas-Venezuela.
↑Rodríguez, B.; Posada, J.; Posada, J. (1994). "Revisión histórica de la pesquería del botuto o guarura (Strombus gigas L.) y el alcance de su programa de manejo en el Parque Nacional Archipiélago de Los Roques, Venezuela". In Appeldoorn R.; Rodríguez, B. (eds.). Queen conch biology, fisheries and mariculture. Caracas, Venezuela: Fundación Cientifica Los Roques. pp. 13–24.
↑Posada, J.M.; Ivan, M.R.; Nemeth, M. (1999). "Occurrence, abundance, and length frequency distribution of queen conch, Strombus Gigas, (Gastropoda) in shallow waters of the Jaragua National Park, Dominican Republic". Caribbean Journal of Science. 35 (1–2): 70–82.