Murex snail - the royal purple

Purple Purpur by TeKaBe

The lowly snail is the source of the famous Tyrian purple dye that gave medieval royal garments their distinctive, and exclusive, purple color. Although several shades varying from scarlet through red-violet and violet were obtained from differing species of mollusk, and all shades were considered to be the 'purple' worn by kings, the process of making the dye was the same.
The snails were gathered alive from the reefs and shallow waters of the Mediterranean Sea and placed in a large vessel, where they were crushed, shell and all. Upon exposure of the snail's mucosal secretions to the air, the secretions turn purple. The fabric was then immersed in the resultant dye which gave the cloth its color.
The color was held in such high regard that, except for kings, the penalty for anyone who dared wear it, was death.
The earliest known commercial producers of the dye were the Phoenicians, who were trading it two thousand years before the birth of Christ. In today's numbers, it takes 120 pounds of snails to make one gram of the dye, worth $2700.00 in today's market.

Scientific Name

Murex brandaris, Bolinus Brandaris, et al