Abstract
The purple snail (Plicopurpura pansa) is a conspicuous rocky-shore species in the tidal zone of the American tropical Pacific. It is considered a potential resource because of the dye it produces. In the 1980s the snail underwent exploitation in the Pacific coast of Mexico. Samples in 12 rocky shores of the Baja California Sur, Jalisco and Oaxaca states, and the Socorro Island were made, finding a sexual ratio near to 1:1, densities ranging from 0.47 to 1.24 snails m–2 and a relation between dye yield and specimens' length. By interviews with the Mixteco people in Oaxaca and milking of the snails over cotton skeins, dye yield was calculated as 2.5 liters of dye per week/fisherman or 2.2 skeins per week/fisherman.
Highlights
El caracol púrpura o del tinte Plicopurpura pansa (Gould, 1853; Sinónimo: Purpura pansa), es una especie conspicua de la zona intermareal del Pacífico tropical oriental (Keen, 1971)
Snails are often attached to wave-exposed rocky substrata in the intertidal zone and their maximum abundance is observed in the Ciencias Marinas, Vol 28, No 4, 2002 abundancia se observa en la franja superior y media del nivel mesolitoral, donde muestran ciclos de actividad de períodos cortos relacionados con los cambios diurnos y del nivel de mareas (León-Álvarez, 1989, Avilés et al, 1990)
The aim of this study is to count with information about the current status of the snail’s populations in several localities of the Mexican Pacific coast, besides obtaining estimations about the dye yield and its present use
Summary
El caracol púrpura o del tinte Plicopurpura pansa (Gould, 1853; Sinónimo: Purpura pansa), es una especie conspicua de la zona intermareal del Pacífico tropical oriental (Keen, 1971). The purple snail Plicopurpura pansa (Gould, 1853; Synonim: Purpura pansa) is a conspicuous species in the intertidal zone of the Eastern tropical Pacific (Keen, 1971). Snails are often attached to wave-exposed rocky substrata in the intertidal zone and their maximum abundance is observed in the Ciencias Marinas, Vol 28, No 4, 2002 abundancia se observa en la franja superior y media del nivel mesolitoral, donde muestran ciclos de actividad de períodos cortos relacionados con los cambios diurnos y del nivel de mareas (León-Álvarez, 1989, Avilés et al, 1990). Se alimentan de invertebrados intermareales entre los que destacan los poliplacóforos (Chiton spp.) y otras especies de gasterópodos como Nerita spp. y Littorina spp. (Turok et al, 1988; Castillo-Rodríguez y Amezcua-Linares, 1992)
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