fighting conch eat snails?

[jacksparrow7]

Does the fighting conch kill and eat snails?
Mahalo Jack

 

[pagojoe]

Nope, fighting conchs, like all the other real conchs, are purely vegetarians and eat micro- and macroalgae. However, you may hear Melongena corona called a "crown conch," and these aren't conchs at all. They feed on other molluscs.

Cheers,



Don

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Are they a type of coneshell?

 

[pagojoe]

No, all the true conchs have a notch in the lip near the anterior tip, and they all have the muscular foot that allows them to jump. Cones have a fairly typical snail-like foot and don't have the notch, called a "strombid notch." Melongena corona is in the family Melongenidae, and the same superfamily as the big whelks that live in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. They are the ones that will eat other molluscs. Here's a picture of one of the "conchs" that isn't a true conch:

http://www.gastropods.com/0/Shell_1010.html

Cheers,



Don