Conch

The English word "conch" is attested in Middle English,[3] coming from Latin concha (shellfish, mussel),[3][4] which in turn comes from Greek konchē (same meaning)[3][4] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European root *konkho-,[3] cognate with Sanskrit śaṅkha.[3]

A conch is a sea snail in the phylum Mollusca. A conch shell has superior strength and is used as musical instrument or decoration. It consists of about 95% calcium carbonate and 5% organic matter. The conch meat is edible.[5][6]

A group of large eastern conchs or whelks of the species Busycotypus canaliculatus for sale at a California seafood market

The meat of conchs is eaten raw in salads or cooked in burgers, chowders, fritters, and gumbos. All parts of the conch meat are edible.[6]

Conch is indigenous to the Bahamas and is typically served in fritter, salad, and soup forms. Conch is also eaten in the West Indies (Jamaica in particular); locals in Jamaica eat conch in , stews, and , other types of food curries. Restaurants all over the islands serve this particular meat. In the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Haiti, conch is commonly eaten in curries or in a spicy soup. It is locally referred to as lambi. In Puerto Rico, conch is served as a ceviche, often called ensalada de carrucho (conch salad), consisting of raw conch marinated in lime juice, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, green peppers, and onions. It is also used to fill empanadas.

In Panama, conch is known as cambombia and is often served as ceviche de cambombia, consisting of raw conch marinated in lime juice, chopped onions, finely chopped habaneros, and often vinegar.

Conch is very popular in Italy and among Italian Americans. Called scungille (pl. scungilli), it is eaten in a variety of ways, but most often in salads or cooked in a sauce for pasta. It is often included as one of the dishes prepared for the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

In East Asian cuisines, conch is often cut into thin slices and then steamed or stir-fried.

Eighty percent of the queen conch meat in international trade is imported into the United States. The Florida Keys were a major source of queen conchs until the 1970s, but the conchs are now scarce and all harvesting of them in Florida waters is prohibited[7] and individuals who have harvested them have been punished by law enforcement.[8]

Conch shells can be used as wind instruments. They are prepared by cutting a hole in the spire of the shell near the apex and then blowing into the shell as if it were a trumpet, as a blowing horn. Sometimes a mouthpiece is used, but some shell trumpets are blown without one. Pitch is adjusted by moving one's hand in and out of the aperture; the deeper the hand, the lower the note.

Various species of large marine gastropod shells can be turned into blowing shells, but some of the best-known species used are the sacred chank or shankha Turbinella pyrum, the Triton's trumpet Charonia tritonis, and the queen conch Strombus gigas.

Examples of this practice in the Americas can be seen in the form of historical artifacts at the Museo Larco in Lima, Peru, and Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, Mexico.

Conch pearl necklace

Many kinds of molluscs can produce pearls. Pearls from the queen conch, S. gigas, are rare and have been collectors' items since Victorian times.[10] Conch pearls occur in a range of hues, including white, brown, and orange, with many intermediate shades, but pink is the colour most associated with the conch pearl, such that these pearls are sometimes referred to simply as "pink pearls".[10] In some gemological texts, non-nacreous gastropod pearls used to be referred to as "calcareous concretions" because they were porcellaneous (shiny and ceramic-like in appearance), rather than nacreous (with a pearly lustre). The Gemological Institute of America and World Jewellery Confederation now use the simple term "pearl"—or, where appropriate, the more-descriptive term "non-nacreous pearl"—for such items,[11] and, under Federal Trade Commission rules, various mollusc pearls may be referred to as "pearls" without qualification.[12]

Although not nacreous, the surfaces of fine conch pearls have a unique and attractive appearance of their own. The microstructure of conch pearls comprises partly aligned bundles of microcrystalline fibres that create a shimmering, slightly iridescent effect known as flame structure. The effect is a form of chatoyancy, caused by the interaction of light rays with the microcrystals in the pearl's surface, and it somewhat resembles moiré silk.

A drawing of the shell of Strombus alatus, the Florida fighting conch

• Conch shells are sometimes used as decoration, as decorative planters, and in cameo making.
• In classic Maya art, conchs are shown being used in many ways, including as paint and ink holders for elite scribes, as bugles or trumpets, and as hand weapons (held by combatants by inserting their hands in the aperture).
• Conch shells have been used as shell money in several cultures.
• Some American Aboriginals used cylindrical conch columella beads as part of breastplates and other personal adornment.[13]
• In India, the Bengali bride-to-be is adorned with conch shell and coral bangles called shakha paula. It is a traditional wedding ritual for every Bengali bride.[14]
• In India and Bangladesh, the conch is blown everyday in the evening in Bengali houses as a daily ritual.
• In some Afro-Caribbean and African-American cemeteries, conch shells are placed on graves.[15]
• In some Caribbean countries such as Jamaica and the Bahamas, cleaned queen conch shells, or polished fragments, are sold, mainly to tourists, as souvenirs or in jewellery. Responding to a 2003 recommendation from CITES, some countries in the Caribbean have banned the export of queen conch shells. CITES has also asked all countries to ban import of these shells from countries that are not complying with CITES recommendations for managing the fishery. Queen conch fisheries have been closed in several countries.[16] Conch shells or fragments taken home by tourists from noncomplying countries may be confiscated on return to the tourist's home country while clearing customs. In the UK, conch shells are the 9th-most seized import.[17]
• Conch shells are occasionally used as a building material, either in place of bricks or as bulk for landfill.
• In Grenada, fishermen use the conch shell as a trumpet to announce to the community that fish is available for sale. Conchs are used at carnival times in the Jouvert Jump where Diab Diab (Jab Jab) blow conch shells as part of the festivities. Especially in Guadeloupe, hearing conch shells being blown near ports at dawn and during Carnival times, too, is not uncommon. Many bands are making the conch shell a main instrument.
• In the Bahamas, broken or up-turned conch shells are embedded into the tops of outdoor walls in an effort to maintain home security.
• In Tamil Nadu, India, the conch horn is blown during funerals as an acoustic indication of the funeral and to ward off evil spirits.
• In Key West, Florida, US, a native-born resident is affectionately called a "conch".
• In Japan, a conch is horagai (or jinkai). It was used as a trumpet in special ceremonies such as a royal cremation during the Edo period.[18]
• Conch shells, (pu in Hawaiian) have been historically used as a method of communication, a tradition that is still observed in parts of modern life in Hawai'i.[19][20]

• The Old English riddle Ic wæs be Sonde describes a conch: "I was by sound, near seawall, at ocean-stream; I dwelt alone in my first resting place... Little did I know that I, ere or since, ever should speak mouthless over mead-benches." Another meaning given to this riddle "Ic wæs be Sonde" is that the sound of the conch corresponds to spiritualised sound as heard in higher realms.
• In the Hindu tradition, the conch shell is used in ceremony as the sound it makes is said to correspond with higher frequency universal sounds associated with music of the spheres.
• Ostional, a pueblo in the municipality of San Juan del Sur in southwest Nicaragua, by accounts of local testimonials, was founded by their ancestors because of an abundant conch population at the seashore. Subsequently, the tribe used conch shells in many rituals and customs. In 2008, witnesses at local archaeological digs reported conch shells were found in the graves of some indigenous people in their recently rediscovered cemetery grounds. Some still maintained jade stones, implying the significance of conch shells within their tribal society.

• William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies (1954) features frequent references to "the conch". In the book, the conch is used as a trumpet to call everyone together and held by whoever is speaking at meetings, symbolically representing democracy and order. The conch is seen as a delicate and beautiful object to represent this concept, although its fragility is shown when it "exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist" after Roger drops a huge rock on Piggy's head.

• Dakshinavarti Shankh
• Lentigo pipus
• Seashell
• Seashell resonance

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Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Conch

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Conch" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.