[myoo
r-eks] 
[myoor-uh-seez] , mu⋅rex⋅es. | 1. | any marine gastropod of the genus Murex, common in tropical seas, certain species of which yield the royal purple dye valued by the ancients. |
| 2. | a shell used as a trumpet, as in representations of Tritons in art. |
| 3. | purplish red. |
| mu·rex (myŏŏr'ěks) n. pl. mu·ri·ces (myŏŏr'ĭ-sēz') or mu·rex·es Any of various marine gastropods of the genus Murex common in tropical seas and having rough spiny shells, especially M. trunculus, the source of Tyrian purple. [New Latin Mūrex, genus name, from Latin mūrex, purple-fish.] |
murex
any of the marine snails constituting the family Muricidae (subclass Prosobranchia of the class Gastropoda). Typically the elongated or heavy shell is elaborately spined or frilled. The family occurs throughout the world but mainly in the tropics. The many muricids that live in rocky shallows are called rock shells, or rock whelks.
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