What is the difference between whelk and conch shells

When ready to start lives of their own, the juvenile whelks escape by punching holes in the case and crawling out onto the sea bottom. And the cycle of whelk life begins again!

Four species of whelks can be found in Florida waters. Photo credit: Wikipedia commons. James St. Tania Braukamper is an Australian-born writer and photographer currently living in Portugal.

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Founded in by Robert and Daryl Davis, Seaside has become…. Hey Buddy! Thank you. Share with friends Share on Facebook Share. Share on Twitter Share. Now that you have a few tips, it's time to shell! Scotch Bonnet The official state shell of North Carolina.

Whelks Whelks are most often mistaken for conchs which are very similar to the species. The difference: Whelks live in cooler waters and are carnivores whose diet consists of mostly meat. Conchs live in warmer tropical waters and are herbivores who feed on vegetation.

Fun Fact: Whelks larger than fist size are or were mostly female. Knobbed Whelks Several triangular knobbed spirals that taper to a long siphon canal. Lightning Whelks Similar appearance to the Knobbed Whelk but with a left-side opening. This means the snail is left-handed and the body is on the left as it travels forward with the spire in the rear.

Channeled Whelks This Whelk is easy to classify with its deep channeled spirals and weak knobbs, if any. Lettered Olive Shells Long pointed tube with tightly wound spirals at the point. These shells typically grow to " long and come in many color varieties and patterns. Newer shells are covered with brown zig zag lines and triangle shapes with the shell base a pale color.

Augers Glossy cone-shaped shells with short siphon canals. Nutmeg These shells are egg shaped with cross-hatched textures.

Mud Snails and Nassas Small oval shells of several color and textured varieties. Eastern Murex These architectural beauties have turnip-shaped bodies with nearly 8 axial ridges and sharp hollow spikes. These things are carnivorous? What in the world is a gastropod? The word gastropod is just a neat way of saying snails. It sounds better. Rolls off the tongue a little nicer. And when you say gastropod, people think your smart. Now a gastropod is a type of mollusc with an external shell — as opposed to slugs, also a mollusc, but with no shell — and they make up the second largest class of named species, second only to insects.

As for the notion of being a carnivorous gastropod then, well, its just like the name implies. Whelks eat other animals! When you are out on the beach looking for shells on the Outer Banks, you will probably find a tons of clam and scallop shells think the Shell gas station symbol that are popped wide open when they wash up. Nine times out of ten, this was done by a whelk.

Whelks will latch onto a clam shell with its foot. Then slowly but surely, the whelk will force its foot between the two shells of the clam.