This humble sea snail, Hexaplex trunculus, has played an oversized role in Jewish history. After literally centuries of searching, it is believed to be the source of the “biblical blue” dye, or tekhelet, that the Jews were commanded to use on their ritual garments, most conspicuously the tallit; in turn, those blue stripes of dye influenced the tallit-based design of the flag of Israel.
Despite the importance of using tekhelet dye, the precise identity of the species from which it is extracted had been lost in antiquity. You can get purple or violet dyes from several local marine snails, but the scribes insisted that the dye had to be blue, not purple, and all known candidate species either produced the wrong shade or made a blue that was only short-lived, fading into uselessness that disqualified them. Only three ancient artifacts using tekhelet dye are known to still exist, which didn’t make things easier.
I encourage you to read the full story of how the right snail species and method for creating “biblical blue” was at last recovered.
And yes, of COURSE various Jewish scholars were arguing for different candidates!
For more on the wildlife of Israel, check the tags.
