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  • José H. Leal

Shell of the Week: The Paz Murex

Paziella pazi (Crosse, 1869) reaches 47 mm (about 1.9 inches), and is a very attractive species among a family known for cool-looking shells, the Muricidae. The species is found in moderately deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, East Coast of Florida and the Keys, Bahamas, and the northern Caribbean Sea. Paz’s Murex shells have a typical sculpture of about 4–6 long spines per whorl, The spines are very “open,” in some case deployed almost perpendicularly to the whorls.


The Paz’s Murex, Paziella pazi, dredged off the Dry Tortugas, Florida. Photos by James F. Kelly.
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