marine snail of the subclass Prosobranchia (class Gastropoda), in which the outer whorl of the shell is broadly triangular in outline and has a wide lip, often jutting toward the apex. Conch meat is harvested and consumed by people in Caribbean countries. It is exported to the United States, Europe, and South America, and conch shells are coveted by shell collectors. Natural populations have been decimated by overharvesting, and thus there is considerable interest in developing techniques to raise conchs commercially.