>Has anyone ever tried to insert seeds into the mantle of Strombus gigas ? It
>seems to me, the profit that can be made off of one pink conch pearl would have
>inspired someone to perform such an experiment.
 
Funny you should ask. At the Sarasota Shell Club meeting last night Bob
Glazer spoke about the plight of Strombus gigas (queen conch) in the
Florida Keys and mentioned that he is trying to get cultured queen conch
pearls.
 
His talk was interesting. Seems there are two populations of conch - one
inshore and one offshore, beyond Hawk Channel, which is uncrossable for the
shelled conch (veligers have no trouble, obviously). The inshore population
cannot reproduce; the female gonads are remarkable reduced, and this seems
to be a result of poor water quality. (It's no surprise to me that the
water quality nearshore is poor!) The offshore population reproduces fine
but is so small that the population is increasing only slowly and actually
went down a bit last year (El Nino year).
 
Peggy
 
                     http://www.mindspring.com/~shellelegant
                                  Peggy Williams
                                   Shell Elegant Tours
                 PO Box 575     *     Tallevast FL 34270
          (941) 355-2291  *   [log in to unmask]