Egg Capsule Murex trunculus XL (2) Seashell Gastropoda Murex Rock Snail

Description

Origin : Tyrrhenian Sea

Size : cm 13 x 10

Ovigerous Capsule of Murex trunculus Extralarge cm 13 x 10 Seashell Gastropoda Murex Rock Snail, only a piece, as in photo.

Although, due to its morphology and the surface dotted with pores it may seem like a sponge or Poriferous (that is a phylum of almost exclusively marine sessile invertebrates lacking a well-defined symmetry and endowed with an internal skeletal structure consisting of protein fibers of spongin in which very small calcareous or siliceous spicules are often immersed), in reality this strange whitish structure, vaguely roundish, is the ovulation produced by a mollusk.
The appearance is that of a compact foam, which to the touch appears membranous, almost artificial, covered with small saccular papillae, many of which conceal a small hole, which does not serve to inhale the water as in sponges, but to let the eggs of the mollusk that produced them. It is therefore a question of large ovals composed of individual ovigerous capsules.
They are laid by gastropods of the Muricidae family, belonging to the two species Hexaplex trunculus and Bolinus brandaris, famous because in antiquity they were used to produce the purple, used to dye the clothes of the richest thanks to the viscous secretion of one of their glands; today they are better known for their culinary use.
Two predatory species that typically can be found in an infralittoral environment, both characterized by a massive and often ornamented shell, often with marked thorns in B. brandaris; they are often observed stranded and are also prey to collectors.
Between May and June more individuals gather at night and lay their eggs in these whitish and globose clusters that can be fixed to a rocky substrate or released on sand, at the mercy of variable weather conditions.
The eggs contain thousands and thousands of capsules: just think that a single female is able to produce about 150 capsules, each of which contains an average of 400 eggs, from which some very small larvae with protoconca come out, the first shell that develops in the Gastropods.
In case of storms, the sheep, often already hatched, are transported to the shore.