Irene’s Anniversary Party

Irene Celebrates her First-Year Anniversary at Museum On August 27, 2011, Hurricane Irena blew into North Carolina. A few days later, Museum of Coastal Carolina volunteer coordinator Judy Sobota as walking along Ocean Isle Beach, curious to see what treasures Irene might have left. Judy spotted what she initially thought was a large rock. Upon closer inspection, she realized the rock was actually a large Florida horse conch that had been stranded in a tidal pool.. She approached a nearby family and asked if she could trade her backpack for one of their large pails; the family agreed. The pail proved to be just the right size for transporting the conch to the museum’s touch tank. On August 29, 2012, the conch – nicknamed “Irene” by the museum’s touch tank volunteers (although they are not really sure of the conch’s sex) – celebrates its first-year anniversary at the museum. The Florida horse conch is the largest snail found in American waters; it can grow to a length of 24 inches. Because of Irene’s size, we believe she is between 25 and 30 years old. This makes it one of the world’s largest univalves. The soft animal itself is bright orange and can retract entirely into its shell. Like most Florida horse conchs, “Irene” is a solitary creature. Over 14 inches long, Irene patrols the museum’s touch tank like a large float in a parade. Sea stars often climb onboard for a ride and help to keep her shell clean. When she is hungry, which appears to be most of the time, Irene likes to eat clams. If you put an unopened clam underneath her, she will open the shell with her one tooth and devour the contents.

Next week on Wednesday August 29th, the Museum is having a 1st Anniversary party for “Irene” our giant horse conch who has been with at the Museum of the Coastal Carolinas for 1 year.  “Irene” is the Queen of the Touch Tank and some days performs by crawling onto a rock, showing most of her orange body and spitting at visitors – it doesn’t sound very cool, but you have to admit it’s unusual and something you won’t see any place else.  Come on by and check out Irene up close and personal (maybe not to close) and sign her Anniversary card.