Alex Fraissinet wrote:
>
> At 23:32 26-05-1998 -0400, you wrote:
> >I would be interested in what material you have from the Strombus gigas
> >hatchery in Key West (Long Key near Marathon) which states that
> >Strombus gigas is doing so well.  According to Bob Glazer project director
> >at the Federal Marine Research Institute (whose extensive file I have here)
> >that isn't the case at all  (See American Conchologist Volume 26 (1), page
> >14).  As one who has lived in the keys for a number of years, I don't
> >dispute the successful comeback of the species (downstream veligers are
> >always contributory).
>
> I'm just back from Curacao in the Caribbean. I read the discussion about
> Strombus gigas is doing well. Of course, when I'm in the Caribbean I'm
> looking for information about this animal. Relatively it's now a rare
> animal. You can't find them on their usual places, but the native fishers
> say that they are there, but you must know where. Sounds good, but...
> Most of the shells they get are juvenile, not adult. So, in the most areas
> it don't goes well, and the gigas is still in danger to extinct. On many
> places it is extinct...
> Thirty, fourty years ago, the animal of gigas was about 10 tinches long,
> nowadays is 5 to 6 inches normal.
> When there are too much gigas they stay little, but there are now not too
> much. So, it can mean there is not enough food, or to quick fishing.
> I hope that all these conclusions/questions are wrong and the animal is
> coming back. But in the whole area, not only on one place. (I'm wondering or
> the gigas from Florida 'eat' the same as the gigas in the Caribbean, because
> the color is differend).
> Do you know or there are other observations on other parts of the area?
 
 
We go to the Bahamas 4-5 times a year. We just returned from Eleuthera
and Abacos and we saw plenty of Strombus gigas and we also saw the
natives bringing in boat loads of them every day.  Remember they have
been bringing boat loads of these shells in every day for centuries.
I did not see them take any juveniles.  They have a rule among
themselves about taking the young ones.
--
Jim & Bobbi Cordy
Specializing in Self-Collected
Caribbean & Florida Shells