Eastern Pacific Fighting Conch Shell, Strombus gracilior

Eastern Pacific Fighting Conch Shell, Strombus gracilior. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, February 2022. Size: 6.8 cm (2.8 inches) x 4.4 cm (1.8 inches) x 33 cm (1.3 inches). Collection, photographs and Identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

Eastern Pacific Fighting Conch Shell, Strombus gracilior. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, February 2022. Size: 7.4 cm (2.9 inches) x 44 cm (1.8 inches) x 32 cm (1.3 inches). Collection, photographs and Identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

The Eastern Pacific Fighting Conch, Strombus gracilior ( G.B. Sowerby I, 1825), is a member of the Strombidae Family of True Conchs. They are also known as the Panama Fighting Conch and in Mexico as cobo del Pacifico oriental. The shells are solid consisting of six or seven whorls with a large body, a prominent spire and a long aperture that has a thick outer lip with a notch at the bottom. The shoulder is marked by pronounced, blunt, knobs and the exterior is smooth. The exterior of the shell vary in color from light yellow to yellowish-brown with most shell having a white band running around the body whorl; the outer lip of the aperture is often bordered in orange-brown; the interior is white. The Eastern Pacific Fighting Conchs reach a maximum of 9.5 cm (3.7 inches) in length and 6.1 cm (2.4 inches) in height.

Eastern Pacific Fighting Conchs are found over and within sand and mud substrate often in protected inlets in the intertidal zone to depths up to 50 m (160 feet). They range from Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur to Peru and they are found throughout the Sea of Cortez. They are very similar to the Fighting Conch, Strombus pugilis, found in the Atlantic Ocean.