Florida Horse Conch Poster

"Florida Horse Conch" by Catherine Sherman. The beautiful Florida Horse Conch is the largest gastropod in American waters and is one of the largest gastropods in the world. This large sea snail is found along the Atlantic coast of the Americas from the U.S. state of North Carolina to the north, to Yucatán in the Gulf of Mexico to the south. This sea snail can reach up to two feet in length, making it very popular with shell collectors. The Horse conch lives on sand, weed and mud flats from the low intertidal to shallow subtidal zones, in 20-foot (6 metres) deep water. The U.S. state of Florida declared the Horse conch the state seashell in 1969. The shell is popular with shell collectors partly because of its great size. The scientific name is Triplofusus papillosus, previously known as Pleuroploca gigantea. It is a species of extremely large predatory subtropical and tropical sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies. Although known as a horse conch, this is not a true conch, as it is not in the family Strombidae.