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Detailed explanation-1: -It is secreted by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name ‘Murex’. In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labor, and as a result, the dye was highly valued.

Detailed explanation-2: -To obtain one gramme of pure purple dye, Nouira said he had to shell 100 kilogrammes of murex, a task that takes him two weekends. He washes the marine snails and sorts them by species and size, then carefully breaks the upper part of the shells to extract the gland that, after oxidisation, produces the purple colour.

Detailed explanation-3: -Tyrian purple (aka Royal purple or Imperial purple) is a dye extracted from the murex shellfish which was first produced by the Phoenician city of Tyre in the Bronze Age.

Detailed explanation-4: -Purple was expensive, because purple dye came from snails. The video above, by CreatureCast, recounts the story of Rome’s vaunted Tyrian purple, and the color’s close link with the marine snail Bolinus brandaris. The New York Times: To make Tyrian purple, marine snails were collected by the thousands.