I was fortunate to find a couple Florida Fighting Conch (Strombus alatus) shells on my beach recently. The sturdy, butterscotch-colored shells are surprisingly heavy for their size.

This is a smaller relative of the West Indian Fighting Conch (Strombus pugilis). Though both share the territorial male behavior that earned them their names.

The rest of the time, the snails live peacefully in the intertidal feeding on algae. They are edible but since these only reach about 5″ they aren’t really worth the hassle. Besides, I’d rather have them out there keeping the algae under control!