Babelomurex princeps is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Description The shell size varies between 25 mm and 45 mm
(Original description in Latin) The shell is oblong-fusiform and narrowly perforate. It is white or straw-colored, and is occasionally tinted with a pale hyacinth-blue. There are 7 to 8 whorls, of which the 2 apical whorls are minute and glassy. The three whorls immediately following these are spirally adorned with thick nodules and are angled at the middle. The last two whorls are broadly and regularly ornamented at the middle with triangular spines that are recurved, frondose, and scaly. The entire surface of the body whorl is finely striated, and, from below the periphery down to the base, it is decorated with seven spiral, imbricated rows of scales. The aperture is ovate and white. The outer lip is thin and multi-toothed on the exterior. The columella is nearly straight, and the siphonal canal is slightly recurved. The length of the holotype is 37 mm, and the width is 25 mm.
Distribution This species is distributed in the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean along Mauritius and in the Pacific Ocean along the Philippines
References
Kosuge, S. (1980). Descriptions of six new species of the genus Latiaxis from the Philippines Sea. Bulletin of the Institute of Malacology, Tōkyō. 1(3): 41-45, pls 9-10. Oliverio M. (2008) Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from the southwest Pacific. In: V. Héros, R.H. Cowie & P. Bouchet (eds), Tropical Deep-Sea Benthos 25. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 196: 481–585. page(s): 539. Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). [Checklist of marine biota of China seas]. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
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