Seychelles 1-RUPEE (KM26)

The Giant triton (Charonia tritonis) is a "conch" which refers to many different medium to large sea snails whose shells have a noticeable point at both ends. This particular conch is protected in Seychelles.

Conchs (say "Konk") are gastropods, which is the most successful class of mollusk with over 60,000 species known -- over ten times more than mammals. Gastropod means stomach & foot. Throw a few tentacles and a shell on, and you have a conch.

The Giant Triton appears on a few different coins, but usually after it is dead and only the shell is left. The Seychelles coins are nice in that they show the live animal. This coin was minted in 1976, and apparently a few rare examples were minted in 1977.