Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides

Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides. Size: 5.1 cm (2.0 inches) x 2.8 cm (1.2 inches). Collection, photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides. Size: 5.2 cm (2.0 inches) x 2.8 cm (1.2 inches). Shell courtesy of the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2016.

Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, March 2023. Size: 5.6 cm (3.8 inches) x 3.2 cm (1.3 inches) in height. Collection, photographs and identifications courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

The Prickly Wing Murex, Pteropurpura erinaceoides (Valenciennes, 1832), is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Muricidae Family of Rocks. The shell is dainty with five or six whorls, a moderately high spire, marked with fine spiral ridges, a moderately long closed siphon canal and an oval aperture with the outside of the outer lip having slight dentition (teeth). Between the frilled and curved backward varices, there is a series of low, blunt, knobs, topped by a larger, blunt, knob on the shoulder. The exterior of the shell is cream to brown in color with some specimens displaying lighter and darker coloration as blotches or streaks; the interior is white. Prickly Wing Murexes reach a maximum of 6.2 cm (2.4 inches) in length and 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) in height.

Prickly Wing Murexes reside attached to and under rocks in the intertidal zone to depths up to 20 m (65 feet). They range from Southern California to the central West Coast of mainland Mexico and are found throughout the Sea of Cortez.

Synonyms include Murex californicus, Murex erinaceoides, and Muricidea erinaceoides.