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What is "janthina"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
janthina

Ianthina \I*an"thi*na\, n.; pl. L. Ianthin[ae], E. Ianthinas. [NL., fr. L. ianthinus violet-blue, Gr. ?; ? violet + ? flower.] (Zo["o]l.) Any gastropod of the genus Ianthina, of which various species are found living in mid ocean; -- called also purple shell, and violet snail. [Written also janthina.]

Note: It floats at the surface by means of a raft, which it constructs by forming and uniting together air bubbles of hardened mucus. The Tyrian purple of the ancients was obtained in part from mollusks of this genus.

Wiktionary
janthina

n. (alternative form of ianthina English)

Wikipedia
Janthina

Janthina is a genus of small to medium-sized pelagic or planktonic sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Janthinidae, commonly known as the "purple snails" or the "violet shells".

Usage examples of "janthina".

The best authorities of the present day, however, are of opinion that the celebrated Tyrian-purple was extracted from a mollusk known as the Janthina prolongata, a shell abundant in the Mediterranean and very common near Narbonne, where the Tyrian purple dye-works were in operation at least six hundred years before Christ.