Murex
Murex (Linnaeus, 1758) is a genus of tropical carnivorous marine gastropods. They almost all live in the intertidal zone, among rocks and corals.
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 coloured.
Mucus from the hypobranchial gland of two species, Murex brandaris and Murex trunculus, the former names for Haustellum brandaris and Hexaplex trunculus are used to make the dye Tyrian purple (or Royal purple) for use in royal garments.
Murex is an Indo-Pacific genus, as demonstrated by Ponder & Vokes (1988). The species from the West-Atlantic, formerly considered as Murex, are actually Haustellum
Species
- Murex hoplites
- Murex radula
- Murex (Murex) acanthostephes
- Murex (Murex) aduncospinosus :
