Murex

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Murex

Venus Comb Murex, Murex pectens. From Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Order:	Sorbeoconcha
Family:	Muricidae
Subfamily:	Muricinae
Genus:	Murex Linnaeus, 1758

Species

See text.

Murex is a genus of tropical carnivorous marine gastropod molluscs. 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.

[edit] Species

Murex hoplites
Murex radula
Murex acanthostephes
Murex aduncospinosus : Short-spined Murex
Murex africanus
Murex alocatus
Murex altispira : Caltrop Murex
Murex antillarum : Antilles Murex
Murex brevispina : Short-spined Murex
Murex brevispina brevispina
Murex brevispina macgillivrayi
Murex brevispina ornamentalis
Murex carbonnieri : Carbonnier's Murex
Murex concinnus
Murex coppingeri
Murex djarianensis
Murex djarianensis poppei
Murex falsitribulus
Murex forskoehlii
Murex hystricosus
Murex kerslakai
Murex megapex
Murex occa : Harrowed Murex
Murex pecten: Venus comb murex
Murex pecten soelae
Murex philippinensis
Murex pulcher : Beautiful West Indian Murex
Murex queenslandicus
Murex salomonensis
Murex scolopax : False venus Comb, Woodcock Murex
Murex serratospinosus
Murex singaporensis
Murex somalicus
Murex spectabilis
Murex spicatus
Murex surinamensis
Murex trapa : Rare-spined Murex
Murex tribulus : Caltrop Murex
Murex tribulus spicatus
Murex tribulus tenuirostrum
Murex tribulus tenuirostrum africanus
Murex tribulus ternispina
Murex troscheli : Troschel's Murex
Murex antelmei

[edit] References

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.