''Murex'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of medium to large sized predatory tropical

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the a ...

s. These are

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is est ...

s in the family Muricidae, commonly called "murexes" or "rock snails".Houart, R.; Gofas, S. (2010). Murex Linnaeus, 1758. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138196 on 2011-04-09 The common name murex is still used for many species in the family Muricidae which were originally given the Latin generic name ''Murex'' in the past, but have more recently been regrouped into different newer genera. The word ''murex'' was used by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

in reference to these kinds of snails, thus making it one of the oldest classical seashell names still in use by the scientific community.

Fossil records

This genus is known in the fossil records from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

to the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...

(age range: from 125.45 to 0.0 million years ago). Fossils of species within this genus have been found all over the world. There are about 25 known extinct species.Fossilworks
/ref> Murex altispira 001

Distribution

''Murex'' is solely an

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

genus, as demonstrated by Ponder & Vokes (1988). The species from the western

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

that were formerly considered to belong to the genus ''Murex'' are now placed in the genus '' Haustellum''.

Habitat

Most ''Murex'' species live in the

intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

or shallow subtidal zone, among rocks and corals.

Shell description

This genus includes many showy members, their elongate shells highly sculptured with spines or fronds. The inner surfaces of their ornate shells are often brightly colored.

Human use

Costly and labor-intensive dyes

Tyrian purple Tyrian purple ( grc, πορφύρα ''porphúra''; la, purpura), also known as Phoenician red, Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye. The name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It is ...

(or royal purple) and

tekhelet ''Tekhelet'' ( he, תְּכֵלֶת ''təḵēleṯ''; alternate spellings include ''tekheleth'', ''t'chelet'', ''techelet'' and ''techeiles'') is a "blue-violet", "blue", or "turquoise" dye highly prized by ancient Mediterranean civilizations. I ...

were historically made by the ancient

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

and

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

respectively, using mucus from the hypobranchial gland of two species commonly referred to as "murex", ''Murex brandaris'' and ''Murex trunculus'', which are the older names for ''

Haustellum brandaris ''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, an edible marine gastro ...

'' (''

Bolinus brandaris ''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, an edible marine gastro ...

'') and '' Hexaplex trunculus'' (''Phyllonatus trunculus''). This dye is a rare animal-produced organobromine compound, which the snails make using a specific bromoperoxidase enzyme that operates on dissolved bromide in sea water. This dye was used in

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

robes, other kinds of special ceremonial or ritual garments, or garments indicating high rank. It is hypothesised that the dye was the same dye as that which featured prominently in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, the clothing of the High Priest (or

Kohen Gadol High Priest ( he, כהן גדול, translit=Kohen Gadol or ; ) was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post- Exilic times until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Previou ...

) officiating there; it is sometimes still used by Jews today in the ritual fringes (

tzitzit ''Tzitzit'' ( he, ''ṣīṣīṯ'', ; plural ''ṣīṣiyyōṯ'', Ashkenazi: '; and Samaritan: ') are specially knotted ritual fringes, or tassels, worn in antiquity by Israelites and today by observant Jews and Samaritans. are usual ...

) on four-cornered garments. A consensus has yet to be reached regarding the Biblical source of the "blue" dye.

Species

The genus ''Murex'', as originally defined by Linnaeus, encompassed many taxa that are now placed elsewhere in the superfamily

Muricoidea Neogastropoda is an order of sea snails, both freshwater and marine gastropod molluscs. Description The available fossil record of Neogastropoda is relatively complete, and supports a widely accepted evolutionary scenario of an Early Cretac ...

. During the 19th century, the definition of ''Murex'' was restricted by Lamarck and his contemporaries first to species in the family Muricidae, and then was limited even further to the subfamilies

Muricinae Muricinae is a taxonomic subfamily of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks within the large family Muricidae, the murex snails and rock snails. The Muricinae represent approximately 780 valid names of fossil (378) and recent (400) sp ...

and

Ocenebrinae Ocenebrinae is a taxonomic subfamily of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. This subfamily is within the large family Muricidae, which are commonly known as the murex and rock snails. In one other version of current gastropod taxon ...

. Malacologists of the 19th century including Kiener, Reeve, Küster &

Kobelt Kobelt may refer to: People * Georg Ludwig Kobelt (1804-1857), German anatomist * Karl Kobelt (1891-1968), Swiss politician * Wilhelm Kobelt Wilhelm Kobelt (20 February 1840 – 26 March 1916) was a German zoologist born in Alsfeld, Grand Duch ...

and Sowerby treated all muricoid forms as belonging to ''Murex''. This is the main reason why ''Murex'' has so many synonyms. The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), lists the following species with accepted names within the genus ''Murex''. The subgenera are considered alternate representations. * '' Murex acanthostephes'' Watson, 1883 * '' Murex aduncospinosus'' G.B. Sowerby II, 1841: * '' Murex africanus'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 * '' Murex altispira'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 Caltrop murex * '' Murex antelmei'' Viader, 1938 * '' Murex brevispina'' Lamarck, 1822 Short-spined murex * '' Murex carbonnieri'' (Jousseaume, 1881) Carbonnier's murex * '' Murex concinnus'' Reeve, 1845 * '' Murex coppingeri'' E. A. Smith, 1884 * '' Murex djarianensis'' Martin, 1895 ** '' Murex djarianensis poppei'' (synonym : ''Murex (Murex) poppei'' Houart, 1979) * '' Murex echinoides'' Houart, 2011 * '' Murex falsitribulus'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 * '' Murex forskoehlio'' Röding, 1798 * '' Murex huangi'' Houart, 2010 * '' Murex hystricosus'' Houart & Dharma, 2001 * '' Murex indicus'' Houart, 2011 * '' Murex kerslakae'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 * '' Murex megapex'' Neubert, 1998 * † '' Murex noae'' Holten, 1802 * '' Murex occa'' G.B. Sowerby II, 1834 Harrowed murex * '' Murex pecten'' Lightfoot, 1786 ': Venus comb murex ** '' Murex pecten soelae'' * '' Murex philippinensis'' Parth, 1994 * '' Murex protocrassus'' Houart, 1990 * '' Murex queenslandicus'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 * '' Murex salomonensis'' Parth, 1994 * '' Murex scolopax'' Dillwyn, 1817 False venus comb, woodcock murex * '' Murex somalicus'' Parth, 1990 * '' Murex spectabilis'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 * '' Murex spicatus'' Ponder & Vokes, 1988 * '' Murex spinastreptos'' Houart, 2010 * '' Murex surinamensis'' Okutani, 1982 * '' Murex tenuirostrum'' Lamarck, 1822 * '' Murex ternispina'' Lamarck, 1822 * '' Murex trapa'' Roding, 1798 Rare-spined murex * '' Murex tribulus'' Linnaeus, 1758,

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologi ...

: Caltrop murex ** '' Murex tribulus spicatus'' ** '' Murex tribulus tenuirostrum'' ** '' Murex tribulus tenuirostrum africanus'' ** '' Murex tribulus ternispina'' * '' Murex troscheli'' Lischke, 1868 Troschel's murex ;Species mentioned as species in current use in the Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database (OBIS) : * '' Murex singaporensis'' A.Adams, 1853 ;Species brought into synonymy : * ''Murex aedonius'' Watson, 1896: synonym of '' Coralliophila aedonia'' (Watson, 1885) * ''Murex afer'' Gmelin, 1791: synonym of '' Afer afer'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Murex alocatus'': synonym of '' Pterymarchia barclayana'' (H. Adams, 1873) * ''Murex antillarum'' : Antilles murex: synonym of '' Siratus articulatus'' (Reeve, 1845) * ''Murex argo'' Clench & Farfante, 1945: synonym of '' Chicoreus (Triplex) spectrum'' (Reeve, 1846) * ''Murex belcheri'' Hinds, 1843 : synonym of ''

Forreria belcheri ''Forreria belcheri'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as mure ...

'' (Hinds, 1843) * ''Murex bellus'' Reeve, 1845: synonym of '' Vokesimurex bellus'' (Reeve, 1845) * ''Murex blakeanus'' Vokes, 1967: synonym of '' Vokesimurex blakeanus'' (Vokes, 1967) * ''Murex brandaris'' Linnaeus, 1758: synonym of ''

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex canaliculatus'' Linnaeus, 1758: synonym of '' Busycotypus canaliculatus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex capitellum'' Linnaeus, 1758: synonym of '' Vasum capitellum'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex corallinus'' Scacchi, 1836: synonym of '' Ocinebrina aciculata'' (Lamarck, 1822) * ''Murex corneus'' Linnaeus, 1758: synonym of '' Euthria cornea'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex coronatus'' Born, 1778: synonym of '' Pseudovertagus aluco'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex edwardsii'': synonym of '' Ocinebrina edwardsii'' (Payraudeau, 1826) * ''Murex garciai'' Petuch, 1987: synonym of ''

Vokesimurex garciai ''Vokesimurex'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as murex snails ...

'' (Petuch, 1987) * ''Murex gubbi'' Reeve, 1849: synonym of '' Chicocenebra gubbi'' (Reeve, 1849) * ''Murex inconspicuus'' G.B. Sowerby II, 1841: synonym of '' Ocinebrina aciculata'' (Lamarck, 1822) * ''Murex intertextus'' Helbling, 1779: synonym of'' Cumia reticulata'' * ''Murex jickelii'' Tapparone Canefri, 1875: synonym of '' Naquetia jickelii'' (Tapparone Canefri, 1875) * ''Murex lindajoycae'' Petuch, 1987: synonym of '' Vokesimurex lindajoycae'' (Petuch, 1987) * ''Murex longicornis'' Dunker, 1864: synonym of '' Chicoreus longicornis'' (Dunker, 1864) * ''Murex maroccensis'' Gmelin, 1791: synonym of Fusinus maroccensis * ''Murex monodon'' Sowerby, 1825: synonym of '' Chicoreus (Chicoreus) cornucervi'' (Röding, 1798) * ''Murex nassa'' Gmelin, 1791: synonym of '' Leucozonia nassa'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Murex nebula'' Montagu, 1803: synonym of '' Bela nebula'' (Montagu, 1803) * ''Murex peritus'' Hinds, 1844a: synonym of '' Favartia (Favartia) perita'' (Hinds, 1844) * ''Murex pistacia'' Reeve, 1845: synonym of '' Ocinebrina aciculata'' (Lamarck, 1822) * ''Murex purpuroides'' Dunker: synonym of '' Vaughtia purpuroides'' (Reeve, 1845) * ''Murex recurvirostris'': synonym of '' Vokesimurex recurvirostrum'' (Broderip, 1833) * ''Murex rota'' Sowerby: synonym of '' Homalocantha anatomica'' (Perry, 1811) * ''Murex rubidus'': synonym of '' Vokesimurex rubidus'' (F.C. Baker, 1897) * ''Murex serratospinosus'' Dunker, 1883: synonym of ''

Vokesimurex mindanaoensis ''Vokesimurex mindanaoensis'', common name the Mindanao murex, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. Description The size of the shell varies between 59 mm and 114 ...

'' (G.B. Sowerby II, 1841) * ''Murex subaciculatus'' Locard, 1886: synonym of '' Ocinebrina aciculata'' (Lamarck, 1822) * ''Murex taxus'' Dillwyn, 1817: synonym of '' Clavatula taxea'' (Röding, 1798) * † ''Murex textilis'' Brocchi, 1814: synonym of † '' Rimosodaphnella textilis'' (Brocchi, 1814) * ''Murex triqueter'': synonym of'' Naquetia triqueter'' (Born, 1778) * ''Murex tulipa'' Linnaeus, 1758: synonym of ''

Fasciolaria tulipa ''Fasciolaria tulipa'', common name the true tulip, is a species of large sea snail, a marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusk in the family Fasciolariidae. Distribution This species occurs from the North Carolina coast all the way south and we ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex turbinellus'' Linnaeus, 1758: synonym of ''

Vasum turbinellus ''Vasum turbinellus'' is a species of gastropods belonging to the family Turbinellidae. The species is found in Western Africa, Indian Ocean, Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indom ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Murex vittatus'' Broderip, 1833: synonym of '' Favartia (Favartia) vittata'' (Broderip, 1833)

References

* Merle, D., Garrigues, B. & Pointier, J.-P. 2011. Fossil and Recent Muricidae of the World, Part Muricinae. 648 pp., 182 colour plates, Hackenheim. . * Ponder, W.F. & E.H. Vokes. 1988. A revision of the Indo-West Pacific fossil and Recent species of Murex s.s. and Haustellum (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae). ''Records of the Australian Museum'', Supplement 8. 160 pp.

External links

Aristotle, 350 B.C.E. ''A history of animals''
{{taxonbar, from=Q311512 Muricidae Extant Cretaceous first appearances Gastropod genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus