she sells sea shells .....

The shell that I have is a conch shell. A conch shell has a hard, protective outer layer. The shell is an exoskeleton usually of an animal that doesn’t have a backbone, or an invertebrate. It is in the family Stombidae. The word “conch” is from the Greek word for any kind of shellfish or their shells. The first use in English is from 1398 basically saying that all water animals with shells are called conch. Over time it changed to where conch was used for the shells of different kinds of large sea snails. The shells are pointed on both ends.

A person that studies mollusks is called malacologists or conchology. Conch meat is second in popularity in edible snails, first is escargot. In El Salvador live conch is served in a cocktail of onion, tomato, and cilantro. Then lemon juice is squeezed on it and the conch squirms and then the whole thing is slurped down like oysters. Conch shells produce pearls that are white, brown, pink, and orange. In Mayan art conch shells were used as paint and ink holders for elite scribes. Conch shells are also used as bugles or trumpets in many cultures. In some Caribbean and African cemeteries conch shells are put on graves. In Grenada fishermen use a conch shell to tell the community that they have fish for sale. Conch shells and pearls are used in souvenirs or jewelry all over the world. But fragments or whole conch shells can’t be taken home by tourists from “non complying countries” and can be confiscated in customs. In the UK conch shells are the ninth most seized import.