The “African Horned Murex” is a large club-shaped muricid native to western Africa, ranging from Mauritania to Angola (including Cape Verde). Each whorl bears seven spinous varices, each usually bearing two strong spines near the shoulder and many weaker ones towards the siphonal canal. Individuals vary greatly in spine length and curvedness; irregularity in spine growth is not uncommon. The colouration is also very variable and can vary from off-white to almost black.

The club-shaped shell and long varices make it closely resemble members of the genus Tudivasum in Turbinellidae, although the protoconch of Tudivasum is bulbous and very different. Like its only congener B. brandaris (Linnaeus, 1758) which was used to produce the ancient Tyrian purple dye, the mucus of B. cornutus also turns purple upon contact with air and may be used to produce purple dye.

A carnivorous and predatory gastropod, it inhabits mostly sandy to muddy bottoms of moderately shallow waters around -5~80m deep and is not uncommon throughout its range. Typical shell length around 150mm, extremely large examples may exceed 200mm. – Adapted from Chong Chen’s post.

Showing all 3 results

Show sidebar