>If you have every collected Fighting conchs (Strombus pugilis) you will
>soon realize one reason they are called that.  They are constantly
>fighting to escape from your grip, and most of the time they succeed.
 
Anyone who has handled a live S. pugilis certainly reaches the conclusion
that that is how it got its name. However, I think the "gladiator glove"
theory may be the correct one, and the "fighting" aspect a choice
coincidence. Linne described the species, but he certainly never saw one
alive. I very much doubt that the person who did collect it, probably a
sailor picking up shells on the beach, ever related the story of the conch's
behavior to Carl. Linne was a Renaissance type of guy, and probably knew
exactly what a gladiator's glove looked like. Are there any other Linnean
names for foreign species based on behavior? (For the same reason we can
dispel everyone's favorite - Crepidula fornicata, which is based on the word
"fornix" in reference to the arched shell).
 
 
 
*  G Thomas Watters               *
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