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purple shell

noun
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variants: or purple snail

Definition of purple shell

1a : a gastropod mollusk that is a source of purple dye : purple sense 1c(1)
b : janthina sense 2
2 : the shell of a purple shell

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“Purple shell.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purple%20shell. Accessed 6 December 2019.

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