Originally published at: Did you know conch snails have googly eyes? | Boing Boing
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That IS a wonderful thing!
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I always wanted to try conch, then I saw a video of their eyes and lost all interest.
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What in the Jim Henson‽ was my first thought.
It isn’t just how the eyes look, but the scale of them in that photo. They seem comically small compared to it’s body size.
I really would have a hard time not making jokes in a tiny little voice while holding it. It’s muppetesk. I can hear it’s tiny little voice flinging John Cleese insults demanding to be put back in the water. I also want to put it back in the water.
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Just be careful about investigating snails, they are slow, but persistent…
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I guess it makes sense they have eye stalks, they are giant snails
Sure, but these
are so much less muppet-ish!
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Yeah, having an eye iris really boosts one’s personality!
Imagine how cute garden slugs would be if they had those?
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the queen conch is very important down here in the keys,AKA the Conch Republic. the islanders are called “conchs” due to the hard scrabble existence in the earliest daus of settlement. Bahamian settlers came here ealy in the 19th century and brought with them the techniques and recipes for harvesting and eating the large sea-snails. they were the original Conchs.
i do enjoy a hearty Bahamian conch chowder or conch ceviche salad or jus thin sliced dipped in a little ponzu. i avoid conch fritters, they are a waste of time. greasy little cornmeal balls with chunks of the toughest parts of the snail. not good.
however, the queen conch was over harvested in the keys to the point of scarcity. they can no longer be fished in the islands. today, all the conch served in restaurants and bars here come from Bahamian waters and are highly regulated.
eta: cute eyes, tho…
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Yeah… the eyestalks were expected; most invertebrates have something like them.
But organic googly eyes, as if even nature loved Everything Everywhere All at Once?
Never even occurred to me…
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Yes, I knew.
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Most aquatic snails don’t have eyestalks though, the eyes are at the base of the tentacles. They moved to the top in the land snails and slugs, possibly twice independently, but even conchs’ closer relatives generally don’t have them. So I think they are still remarkable for the projecting eyes, on top of cute.
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