Lot Murex brandaris 5 Pcs Seashell Gastropoda Purple Murex Rock Snail Muricidae

Only about 0.90 Euros for Shell ! Lot 5 Murex brandaris mm 20-50 Seashell Gastropoda Purple Murex Rock Snail Muricidae, A2 quality (beached, with obvious damage such as encrustations, holes, dressed by sea, broken siphon, etc.).
Family: Muricidae.
Common name: Purple Dye Murex or the Spiny Dye-Murex.
Syn. Bolinus brandaris, Haustellum brandaris, Hautellum clavatum, Aranea cinerea, Murex clavisherculis, Murex coronatus, Murex monospinosus, Murex pseudobrandaris, Murex subbrandaris, Murex trifariaspinosus, Murex trispinosus,  Murex tuberculatus, Murex tudiculoides, Purpura fuliginosa, Rhinocantha trifariaspinosa.

The shell is about 6–8 cm, equipped with spiny extensions, with a swollen shape elongated at one end of the siphon, which is instead long and straight.
The external surface is wrinkled and crossed by numerous irregular spiral cords. The external color varies from yellow to brown. The stoma is oval, serrated on the external edge, from yellow to orange.
It is a common species on sandy bottoms, up to a maximum of 100 m.
This species is a necrophagous predator.
During the reproductive period (June-July) it is not uncommon to observe large groups with specimens of different sexes mating. The individuals of this species are protandrous hermaphrodites, that is, they are first male and then, if necessary, become female. The eggs are laid on the rocks of the cliffs organized in a more or less gelatinous whitish mass.
From the mollusc we obtain the royal purple, secreted by a gland, of a violet color, used in the coloring of fabrics. Only one drop can be extracted from each mollusc, which makes it very expensive, as is also confirmed by written evidence: just think of the Iliad, according to which only princesses could wear purple veils. Murex fishing was so valuable that it pushed the Phoenicians well beyond the Pillars of Hercules, making them reach as far as the Canary Islands. Initially, the distribution center for purple was Tyre, but after its decline, the most important place of production became Carthage. It was from here that it reached Rome, where purple became one of the symbols of imperial magnificence.