But the only natural source of purple dye is a species of predatory sea snail called the Murex snail. These snails can only be found in the eastern Mediterranean and off the coast of Morocco.

So we all know the color purple has always been associated with royalty because the dye used to make it was extremely limited beca ...

Pieces of pottery stained with blue and purple dye made from murex sea snails are among the forgotten artifacts that sat in storage for about 50 years after they were excavated. They constitute ...

Dye artisans commonly sought the species known today as the banded dye-murex — the ... as being a deep reddish purple in ...