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''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 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 ...
, an edible
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 ...
mollusk 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 e ...
in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or the rock snails. This species is known in the fossil record from the
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Phoenicians 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 ...
in ancient times to extract imperial
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 ...
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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
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 any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters ...
dye and also as a popular food source under various names, among which ''sconciglio'', from which comes the word ''
scungilli Whelk (also known as scungilli) is a common name applied to various kinds of sea snail. Although a number of whelks are relatively large and are in the family Buccinidae (the true whelks), the word ''whelk'' is also applied to some other marine ...
''. 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 which 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 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 ...
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 blue color. Historically, indigo was a natural dye extracted from the leaves of some plants of the ''Indigofera'' genus, in particular '' Indigofera tinctoria''; dye-bearing ''Indigofera'' pl ...
. 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 A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...
. 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

Infrasubspecific names are not recognized by ICZN. * '' Bolinus brandaris bicauda'' - Coen 1933 * '' Bolinus brandaris coronatus x polii'' - Stigwan 2019 * '' Bolinus brandaris elongata'' - Stigwan 2019 * '' Bolinus brandaris cagliaritanus'' - Stigwan 2019 * '' Bolinus brandaris longispinus'' - Coen 1914 * '' Bolinus brandaris nasalis brevis'' - Stigwan 2019 * '' Bolinus brandaris nivea'' - Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, - 1882 * '' Bolinus brandaris polii'' - Coen 1933 * '' Bolinus brandaris rubiginosus'' - Stigwan 2019 * '' Bolinus brandaris trispinosus'' - Locard 1886 * '' Bolinus brandaris trituberculatus'' - Stigwan 2019 * '' Bolinus brandaris varicosus'' - Settepassi 1970


Synonyms

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


See also

*
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 ...
* '' Hexaplex trunculus''


References


Further reading

* Radwin, G. E. & D'Attilio A. (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. * Vasconcelos P., Barroso C. M. & Gaspar M. B. (2017). "Meat yield of ''Bolinus brandaris'' (Gastropoda: Muricidae): Comparative assessment of the influence of sex, size and reproductive status". ''
Scientia Marina ''Scientia Marina'', formerly ''Investigación Pesquera'', is a peer-reviewed academic journal on marine research published by Institut de Ciències del Mar de Barcelona ( CSIC) since 1955. The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Science Cit ...
'' 81(2): 255-267. . {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2017 Muricidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Animal dyes