Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
Murex
| Murex Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Apertural view of the shell of Venus comb murex, Murex pecten, anterior end towards the bottom of the page | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Neogastropoda |
| Family: | Muricidae |
| Subfamily: | Muricinae |
| Genus: | Murex Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Murex tribulus Linnaeus, 1758 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
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".[1]
The common name murex is still used for many species in the family Muricidae which were originally given the Latin generic name Murex, but have more recently been regrouped into newer genera. Murex was used in antiquity to describe spiny sea snails, especially those associated with the production of purple dye. Murex is one of the oldest classical seashell names still used by the scientific community.
Aristotle described these mollusks in his History of Animals using the Greek term πορφύρα (porphyra). [2]
- ^ a b Houart, R.; Gofas, S. (2010). Murex Linnaeus, 1758. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138196 on 2011-04-09
- ^ Aristotle. (1902). History of animals in ten books. London: G. Bell.
Previous Page Next Page
