''Bolinus brandaris'' (originally called ''Murex brandaris'' by Linnaeus and also Haustellum brandaris), and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex, is a species of medium-sized predatory

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, an edible marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the family Muricidae, the

murex ''Murex'' is a genus of medium to large sized predatory tropical sea snails. These are carnivorous marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, commonly called "murexes" or "rock snails".Houart, R.; Gofas, S. (2010). Murex Linnaeus, 1 ...

snails or the rock snails. This species is known in the fossil record from the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

in ancient times to extract imperial Tyrian purple dye.

Distribution and habitat

This snail lives in the central and western parts of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and has been found on isolated coral atoll beaches in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. It was known since ancient times as a source for

purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...

dye and also as a popular food source under various names, among which ''sconciglio'', from which comes the word '' scungilli''. This species lives on rocks in shallow water.

Human use

This species, like many other species in the family Muricidae, can produce a secretion which is milky and without color when fresh but turns into a powerful and lasting dye when exposed to the air. This was the mollusc species used by the ancients to produce Tyrian purple fabric dye. Sea snails of the species Banded dye-murex '' Hexaplex trunculus'' were also used to produce a purple-blue or

indigo dye Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive indigo, blue color. Indigo is a natural dye obtained from the leaves of some plants of the Indigofera#Uses, ''Indigofera'' genus, in particular ''Indigofera tinctoria''. Dye-bearing ''Indigofer ...

. In both cases, the mollusks secrete the dye in the mucus of their hypobranchial glands. In Spain, and more specifically on the Mediterranean coast and the Gulf of Cádiz, they are called cañaílla, and are appreciated as food. It is a cannibalistic species; evidence suggests that intensive breeding by the ancient Minoans resulted in pierced shells, perhaps by other snails, due to the population density in breeding tanks.

Biology

Shell

The size of the adult shell of ''Bolinus brandaris'' can reach about 60 to 90 mm. The shell is usually golden brown with a very long siphonal canal and a rounded body whorl with a low spire. There is a row of spines that corresponds to the end of each growth stage. File:Bolinus brandaris 01.jpg, Different views of a shell of ''Bolinus brandaris'' File:Haustellum brandaris 001.JPG, A shell of ''Bolinus brandaris'' with a broken lip because it was between growth stages when it died, and the edge of the aperture is easily damaged during that time. File:Lister-Murex-brandaris.jpg, An illustration of the species from Martin Lister's 17th century shell book. Lister M. (1685-1692). ''Historia Conchyliorum''. File:Muricidae - Bolinus brandaris torularius.JPG, Fossil shell of ''Bolinus brandaris torularius'' from Pliocene File:Bolinus brandaris Pliocene Cyprus.jpg, ''Bolinus brandaris'' from the Pliocene of Cyprus showing interior File:Purple_Purpur_(retouched).jpg, purple dyed fabric File:Wenceslaus Hollar, Shell (Murex brandaris), c. 1645, NGA 74805.jpg, alt=Fine etching of a Shell (Murex brandaris), Wenceslaus Hollar, Shell (Murex brandaris), c. 1645, NGA 74805, National Gallery of Art

Species

Synonyms

*''Aranea cinera'' Perry, 1811 *''Haustellum clavatum'' Schumacher, 1817 *''Murex brandariformis'' Locard, 1886 *''Murex brandaris''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758 *''Murex brandaris brandellus'' Monterosato in Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris brevispinus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris commixtus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris insculptus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris longiaculeatus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris ponderosus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris spinosus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris subcornutus'' Settepassi, 1970 *''Murex brandaris var. aculeatus'' Philippi, 1836 *''Murex brandaris var. canaliaspinosus'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. compacta'' Pallary, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. conica'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. delgadoi'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. devians'' Dautzenberg, 1904 *''Murex brandaris var. diplacantha'' Dautzenberg, 1904 *''Murex brandaris var. longispina'' Coen, 1914 *''Murex brandaris var. monospinosus'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. multicostatus'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. nivea'' Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1882 *''Murex brandaris var. novemcostatus'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. quadrispinosa'' Dautzenberg, 1904 *''Murex brandaris var. robusta'' Dautzenberg, 1904 *''Murex brandaris var. spinotuberculatus'' Serradell, 1912 *''Murex brandaris var. spirocaudata'' Coen, 1934 *''Murex brandaris var. ternispinosa'' Coen, 1914 *''Murex brandaris var. torta'' Dautzenberg, 1904 *''Murex brandaris var. trifariaspinosa'' Frauenfeld, 1869 *''Murex brandaris var. trispinosa'' Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1882 *''Murex brandaris var. tuberculata'' Hidalgo, 1890 *''Murex brandaris var. tudiculoides'' Coen, 1934 *''Murex brandaris varicosus'' Settepassi, 1970 * ''Murex clavaherculis'' Roding, 1798 * ''Murex coronatus'' Risso, 1826 * ''Murex trispinosus'' Locard, 1886 * ''Murex tuberculatus'' Roding, 1798 * ''Purpura fuliginosa'' Röding, 1798

Distribution and habitat

Human use

Biology

Shell

Species

Synonyms

See also

References

Further reading