Predator on Polychaetes and Sipunculans, from subtidal grounds (under stones and in crevices) down to circalittoral bottoms of sand, gravels, little stones.
Original taxon: Murex purpureus. Protoconch multispiral.
Axial sculpture made up of strong ribs, with interspaces as wide as the ribs; spiral sculpture made of slightly narrower cordlets; the whole draws a rectangular cancellation, with squared nodules at the intersections; columella slightly sinuous anteriorly, and not as angled posteriorly as in atropurpurea. labial margin lip externally paler than the general background of the shell. The general outline is more slender and tapering than in atropurpurea or bicolor. An other difference is given by the pattern: the randomly dispersed blotches are numerous in purpurea, rarer in atropurpurea or bicolor, which moreover often displays a spiral white line, never encountered in purpurea.
50-80m deep, Almería, Andalucia, S. Spain. 10mm.
« R. purpurea can be distinguished from R. bourguignati (Locard, 1891) by its more convex whorls; the more evident suture; the fewer spirals above the aperture (6-9 v. 8-11); the fewer and stronger denticles (8-10 v. 14-19) that in R. bourguignati are more close set lyrae; the colour (variable) from brown to dark brown in R. purpurea, from light yellowish to whitish in R. bourguignati. The rare ‘albinistic’ specimens of R. purpurea may resemble in colour R. bourguignati, but the remainder features are always diagnostic. » – Giannuzzi Savelli & al.: “A revision of the Mediterranean Raphitomidae (Neogastropoda, Conoidea) 4: The species of the group of Raphitoma purpurea (Montagu, 1803) with the description of a new species”, Bollettino malacologico vol.53, Milano 2017, p.168. – Above: La Ville Neuve, north of Saint-Suliac, Bassin de la Rance, NE. Brittany, NW. France. Original pictures provided by P. Corbrion for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC-SA).
