murex

noun

1. Any of the genus Murex of marine gastropods.

   “The bank of crushed murex shell that Professor Bosanquet found here, and again at Palaikastro, in company with a whole mass of Kamáres pottery, shows that the men of Sidon and Tyre were not the first to practise the dying of purple.”

   “The murexes (family Muricidae) are one of the most beautiful and sought-after families by shell collectors.”