Murex family

The tissue of some mollusks can be used to produce rich and intense dyes. Purple, red, and blue dyes are historically the most popular products of these invertebrates, almost all of which are members of the Muricidae, the murex family of marine snails. 

The Greek word porphura actually derives from an earlier Semitic word used by the Phoenicians to describe molluscs (from the purpura and murex families) from which they extracted a rare pigment, called Tyrian Purple. Chemically, this substance is known as 6,6 -dibromoindigotin (which is... 

---