''Bolinus brandaris'' (originally called ''Murex brandaris'' by Linnaeus and also

Haustellum ''Haustellum'' is a genus of medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. Like many other genera within the Muricidae, the genus has been redefined several times. Ponder & Vokes (1 ...

brandaris), and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex, is a species of medium-sized

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

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 ...

, 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 Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as murex snails or rock snails. With about 1,600 living species, the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neogas ...

, 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, 1758 ...

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 Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient thalassocracy, thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-st ...

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 the ea ...

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, pu ...

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

fabric dye. Sea snails of the species Banded dye-murex ''

Hexaplex trunculus ''Hexaplex trunculus'' (previously known as ''Murex trunculus'', ''Phyllonotus trunculus'', or the banded dye-murex) is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. It is included ...

'' 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'' pla ...

. In both cases, the mollusks secrete the dye in the mucus of their

hypobranchial gland The hypobranchial gland is a glandular structure which is part of the anatomy of many mollusks, including several different families of gastropods, and also many protobranch bivalves. This gland produces mucus as well as biologically active comp ...

s. 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 The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is ...

and a rounded

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

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 are ...

. 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 The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Species

Infrasubspecific names are not recognized by

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the I ...

. * ''

Bolinus brandaris bicauda ''Bolinus'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Miocene to the Pliocene period (age range: from 15.97 to 2.588 million ye ...

'' - Coen 1933 * ''

Bolinus brandaris coronatus x polii ''Bolinus'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Miocene to the Pliocene period (age range: from 15.97 to 2.588 million ye ...

'' - Stigwan 2019 * ''

Bolinus brandaris elongata ''Bolinus'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Miocene to the Pliocene period (age range: from 15.97 to 2.588 million ye ...

'' - Stigwan 2019 * ''

Bolinus brandaris cagliaritanus ''Bolinus'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Miocene to the Pliocene period (age range: from 15.97 to 2.588 million ye ...

'' - 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 Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

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, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...

*''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