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Haustellum brandaris

 

 
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Haustellum brandaris
 
 
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Haustellum brandaris, also known as Bolinus brandaris or Murex brandaris, and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex is a species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of medium-sized predatory sea snail
Snail

The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
, a marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
 gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae
Muricidae

Muricidae, common names murex snails or rock snails, is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails....
, the murex snails or the rock snails.

This species, like many other species in the family Muricidae, can produce a secretion which is milky and without color when fresh but which turns into a powerful and lasting dye when exposed to the air.

This was the mollusk species used by the ancients to produce Tyrian purple
Tyrian purple

Tyrian purple , also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red dye which was first produced by the ancient Phoenicians in the city of Tyre, Lebanon....
 fabric dye.

Sea snails of the species Banded dye-murex
Hexaplex trunculus

Hexaplex trunculus is a medium-sized species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails....
 were also used to produce a purple-blue or indigo dye
Indigo dye

Indigo dye is dye with a distinctive blue color . The chemical compound that constitutes the indigo dye is called indican. The ancients extracted the natural dye from several species of plant as well as one of the two famous Hexaplex trunculus, but nearly all indigo produced today is Chemical synthesis....
.






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Haustellum brandaris, also known as Bolinus brandaris or Murex brandaris, and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex is a species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of medium-sized predatory sea snail
Snail

The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
, a marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
 gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae
Muricidae

Muricidae, common names murex snails or rock snails, is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails....
, the murex snails or the rock snails.

This species, like many other species in the family Muricidae, can produce a secretion which is milky and without color when fresh but which turns into a powerful and lasting dye when exposed to the air.

This was the mollusk species used by the ancients to produce Tyrian purple
Tyrian purple

Tyrian purple , also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red dye which was first produced by the ancient Phoenicians in the city of Tyre, Lebanon....
 fabric dye.

Sea snails of the species Banded dye-murex
Hexaplex trunculus

Hexaplex trunculus is a medium-sized species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails....
 were also used to produce a purple-blue or indigo dye
Indigo dye

Indigo dye is dye with a distinctive blue color . The chemical compound that constitutes the indigo dye is called indican. The ancients extracted the natural dye from several species of plant as well as one of the two famous Hexaplex trunculus, but nearly all indigo produced today is Chemical synthesis....
. In both cases the mollusks secrete the dye in mucus from their hypobranchial glands.

Please also see the article Tyrian purple
Tyrian purple

Tyrian purple , also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a purple-red dye which was first produced by the ancient Phoenicians in the city of Tyre, Lebanon....
 and Hexaplex trunculus
Hexaplex trunculus

Hexaplex trunculus is a medium-sized species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails....
 for more information.

Distribution

This snail lives in the central and western parts of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
. It was known since ancient times as a source for purple
Purple

Purple is a general term for the range of shades of color occurring between red and blue. It occurs by mixing the primary colors red and blue in varying proportions, with possibly a very small quantity of the third primary color ....
 dye and also as a popular food source under various names, among which sconciglio, from which comes the word scungilli.

Habitat

This species lives on rocks in shallow water.

Shell description

The shell is usually golden-brown in color with a very long siphonal canal
Siphonal canal

In some sea snails, Marine gastropod molluscs, the animal has an anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon , through which water is drawn into the mantle cavity and over the gill....
 and a rounded body whorl
Body whorl

File:Anisus septegyrus1pl.jpgFile:Turritella communis Turmschnecke.jpgBody whorl is a term applied to a snail shell. It refers to part of the morphology of a coiled snail shell, that of a shelled gastropod mollusk....
 with a low spire
Spire (mollusc)

File:Turritella communis Turmschnecke.jpgFile:Little snail.JPGFile:Xerolenta obvia3pl.jpgFile:Planorbarius_corneus_top.jpgA spire is a descriptive term for part of the Animal shell of a snail, a gastropod mollusc shell or gastropod shell....
. There are a row of spines corresponding to the end of each growth stage.

The adult shell size of this species is about 60 to 90 mm.

Books

  • Lister, Martin, 1685 - 1692, Historia Conchyliorum
  • Radwin, G. E. and A. D'Attilio, 1986. Murex shells of the world. An illustrated guide to the Muricidae. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, x + pp. 1-284 incl 192 figs. + 32 pls.