What exactly does a queen conch do all day?
That is the question researchers from the Cayman Islands Department of Environment and Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium hope to answer through a new tracking project that is offering a rare glimpse into the private lives of one of Cayman’s essential marine species.
In May, Department of Environment environmental management officer, Steph Gunby, and research scientist Andy Kough fitted 37 queen conchs with temporary acoustic tags and biologger backpacks at six sites around Grand Cayman.
Over a period of just more than two weeks, researchers tracked the movements of the animals using hydrophones and GPS technology, allowing them to map where the conchs travelled and how active they were.
The results have already revealed some fascinating behaviour.
According to the Department of Environment, tagged conchs were observed burying themselves in the sand, mating and even laying eggs while carrying the monitoring equipment. The observations suggest the tags did not interfere with the animals’ normal behaviour and provided researchers with a front-row seat to activities that are rarely documented in the wild.
The project is designed to improve understanding of conch movement patterns, home ranges and activity levels, while also comparing behaviour inside and outside marine protected areas.
Researchers tracked individual conchs by locating the signal from their acoustic tags, then conducting underwater surveys around each animal. Biologgers equipped with accelerometers recorded movement and direction, providing a detailed picture of how the animals use their habitat.
The queen conch is one of the Caribbean’s most recognisable marine creatures. Growing to more than a foot in length, it spends its life grazing on algae in seagrass beds, sandy flats and shallow lagoons. Caymanians traditionally know a mature conch by its broad flared pink lip.
The study comes at an important time. Conch season closed on 1 May and remains closed until 31 Oct., allowing adults to reproduce and replenish local populations.
Conch have been monitored in Cayman since 1988, with surveys showing long-term declines in density across the islands. Marine replenishment zones have proven important refuges for breeding adults, helping support future generations of this culturally and environmentally important species.
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