Purple coral snail

Coralliophila violacea

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth6–25 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsFebruary, March, and July
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Coralliophila violacea, known as the violet coral shell or purple coral snail, is a species of sea snail in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Coralliophila violacea”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 20 records
February: 46 records
March: 48 records
April: 20 records
May: 15 records
June: 7 records
July: 56 records
August: 46 records
September: 25 records
October: 11 records
November: 23 records
December: 6 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–25 m · Deepest record: 69 m

0–10 m: 47 records
10–20 m: 125 records
20–30 m: 10 records
30–40 m: 4 records
40–50 m: 8 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 47 records
24–26 °C: 83 records
26–28 °C: 47 records
28–30 °C: 141 records

Photos

(c) Takaaki Hattori, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Takaaki Hattori, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Purple coral snail, Violet coral shell, Violet coralsnail, purple coral snail, violet coral shell, violet coralsnail

Names in 1 more languages

German: Violetter Korallengast

Other scientific names: Coralliophila (Coralliophila) violacea, Coralliophila neritoidea, Fusus neritoideus, Murex neritoideus, Purpura violacea, Pyrula neritoidea

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
662 open-data records from 1904 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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