The queen conch, which can grow to the size of a football, is coveted for its meat and shell. Lisa Collins/Blue Planet Archive Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by ...

Leroy Glinton, a fourth generation conch fisherman, stands on a pile of discarded shells outside his home in McLean’s Town, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.

Leroy Glinton, a fourth generation conch fisherman, stands on a pile of discarded shells outside his home in McLean's Town, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.

Some of the shoreline shell piles are solid enough that they’re used as jetties or boat docks. Sherica Smith, 44, owns Shabo’s, a popular conch stand on Grand Bahama Island.

Tereha Davis tosses a conch shell off to the side as she prepares to launch her boat to go conch fishing off the coast of McLean's Town, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, Dec. 5, 2022.

The Bahamas queen conch, a flamboyant slug whose sunset shell has come to be as much of a calling card for the islands’ easy breezy charm as a staple in its economy, is in deep trouble.

Leroy Glinton, a fourth generation conch fisherman, stands on a pile of discarded shells outside his home in McLean's Town, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.

Flags, T-shirts and hats depicting conch sell briskly to visitors. Conch shells serve as paperweights, bowls, musical instruments and Christmas ornaments.

While conch can be pricey in the U.S. and elsewhere, it’s so ubiquitous in the Bahamas that finding a filling meal of conch for less than $10 is not difficult.

Edmond Coverley swims to shore while pulling a raft loaded with conch shells from his crawl, or underwater pen, to sell at a fish market, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, in West End, Grand Bahama Island ...