What is this Conch doing?

[ColoDale]

Can anyone tell me what this conch is doing? When I saw it it appeared to be hanging on to some plant but I have not ever seen a conch do this before. It appeared healthy, was about 10-12 inches across (shell), was in about 40 feet of water in Cozumel. I did not notice any damage, decay or other creatures around it.

I tentatively identified it as a Queen Conch but don't have any photos of the shell.

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

I think it might be an egg case. I've seen these before, minus the conch.

 

[ColoDale]

You know I have seen the white part before by themselves and thought they might be egg cases but never associated them with Conch. Maybe someone can confirm it. When I get time I may try an internet search on that. Thanks for the lead.

 

[smellzlikefish]

That conch is definitely laying eggs. Each white "slice" of that larger thing coming out had hundreds of baby snails (aka veligers) waiting to swim off to find their own reef to grow up in. Cool pic! I wish I had some pics readily available from my cone snail work to throw up on here, but alas, they're buried on a hard drive somewhere.

 

[ColoDale]

Great thanks for the info. I have not seen that "in action" before.