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Rh Outer lip crenulate and with 3 or 4 daubs of dark-brown. A very common shallow water species.

Section Muricanthus Swainson 1840

Murex fuhescens Sowerby Giant Eastern Murex Plate lob

North Carolina to Florida and to Texas.

5 to 7 inches in length. Characterized by the large shell, and the strong, straight, rather short spines. Exterior milky-white to dirty-gray. Aperture enamel white. Thin spiral color lines are usually prominent on the whorls. Fairly common along the shallow areas of northeastern Florida where they are found abundantly during the breeding season. Well-known to the shrimp fishermen whose nets often ensnare them. Murex burryi Clench and Far- fante is probably the young of this species.

Section Murexiella Clench and Farfante 1945

Murex hidalgoi Crosse Hidalgo's Murex Figure 45a

North Carolina to the Lesser Antilles.

I to 1/4 inches in length. Spines frondose and long, with webbing in between which is exquisitely sculptured with scale-like lamellations. Color grayish white to cream. This is probably the rarest of our eastern Murex species. Recently, one specimen was dredged oif northeast Florida in a few fathoms of water.

Subgenus Chicoreus Montfort 18 10

Murex brevifrons Lamarck West Indian Murex Plate loa

Lower Florida Keys and the West Indies.

3 to 6 inches in length. Numerous, stout, fairly long spines on the varices which arch backwards and bear sharp fronds. Raised, spiral lines prominent between the varices. Color variable from cream to dark-brown. Uncommon in the Lower Keys, but fairly common to abundant in the West Indies. Percy Morris (1951, pi. 14, fig. i) labels this species as Murex fiorifer.

Murex fiorifer Reeve Lace Murex Plate loe

South half of Florida and the West Indies.

I to 3 inches in length. Aperture small, nearly round. 8 to 10 crowded.