Hexaplex trunculus

With almost one hundred of synonyms and fossils between the Pliocene and the Quaternary, the Hexaplex trunculus is frequent in the Mediterranean and the neighboring Atlantic, including Spain, Morocco, Canary Islands and Açores. From this gastropod the old Mediterranean civilizations got a blue-violet dye, whilst from a similar species, the Bolinus brandaris, they got the red. The Hexaplex trunculus nourishes of dead animals and bivalves, piercing their shell with the help of a corrosive secretion. The shell, with an angled-spiny profile, measure 4-8 cm © G. Mazza