Carrageenan carrageenan were estimated at $640 million. The largest producer of industrial carrageenan was the Philippines, where cultivated seaweed produces about 80% of the world supply, while China is the main exporter to global markets in the US and Europe. The most commonly used sources are "E. cottonii" ("Kappaphycus alvarezii", "K. striatum") and "E. spinosum" ("Eucheuma denticulatum"), which together provide about three-quarters of the world production. These grow from the sea surface to a depth of about 2 metres. The seaweed is normally grown on nylon lines strung between bamboo floats, and it is harvested after three months or so, when
Tyrian purple the purple". Some speculate that the dye extracted from the "Bolinus brandaris" is known as () in Biblical Hebrew. Another dye extracted from a related sea snail, "Hexaplex trunculus", produced a blue colour which could be the one known as (), used in garments worn for ritual purposes. The dye substance is a mucous secretion from the hypobranchial gland of one of several species of medium-sized predatory sea snails that are found in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. These are the marine gastropods "Bolinus brandaris" the spiny dyemurex, (originally known as "Murex brandaris" Linnaeus, 1758), the banded dye-murex "Hexaplex trunculus", the