Scientific Cooperation in the Caribbean

The queen conch, Strombus (Lobatus) gigas (Linnaeus 1758) is a marine gastropod mollusk. This is an endemic species from the Caribbean Sea, it is present in the water of 37 countries of the Caribbean Sea. It is a valuable marine benthic invertebrate of significant commercial importance in the Caribbean, with an important export trade worth millions of US dollars. The main international markets for conch meat are the USA (79% of the trade) and the French West Indies, with 20%). Also, conch is also consumed locally and its shell and other products sold as curios to visiting tourists in the Caribbean. However, populations have been depleted throughout the Wider Caribbean by overfishing. This species is indexed in Apendix II of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). The aim of this work was to show results of a scientific collaboration in the Caribbean with various Universities, showing the effect of climatic change on abundance of larvae in this region, in the process of shell calcification and concentration of pollution by microplastics in various sites from the Caribbean.