Show us some purple organisms!

Well, so far we have threads for blue, red, yellow, transparent, orange, and even black+white+red organisms. Let’s see some purple organisms from everyone now!

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To start us off, here is a purple isopod. The same one I use as my profile photo here on the forum


https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248089231

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Although they are called brown-lined paperbubbles, I’ve always seen them as being purple.

Keeping on the beach here is a violet snail

A lumpy sea tulip. Its always boggled my mind that these are chordates, but of course they are a tunicate…

Now for some crabs!
A *Pertolisthes* porcelain crab


And a purple rock crab

And, to finish something from the bush!
A dead Platybrachys Planthopper in a spiders web.

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Haliclona (at least, I think it is) …

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Cortinarius camphoratus


Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis


Collybia nuda (lavender colored gills&)


Cortinarius caesiifolius (lilac gills)


The caps of Russula olympiana and R. xerampalina can take on a red-purple color sometimes. They also get a little pink ‘blushing’ on the stipes.

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There are breathtaking plants like this Passiflora foetida .

But my favorite purple species is a gorgeous hopper, Apogonalia stalii!

I have seen two! That feels amazing. :purple_heart:

(edit because it is one species I can never spell, hahaha.)

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Here are favorite flowers:



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Aside from in plants, I feel like purple is an even rarer colour in nature than blue. I currently only have observed one true purple organism that isn’t a flower.


It’s a purplepore bracket, but an unusually purple one, perhaps because it is really small and was wet when I took the image. (The colours on this image aren’t edited).

An honorable mention goes to this beetle, Anoplotrupes stercorosus whose underside is a metallic purple-blue.


Unfortunately the photo is not that great.

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I was just about to make this thread, but you beat me to it!
Photos coming shortly.

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Philippine Ground Orchid Spathoglottis plicata
Sadly introduced but not invasive and still beautiful.

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Plicopurpura columellaris stained with its own Tyrian purple dye. My hands were purple for days and the color lasted for years where it had dripped on my socks.

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It’s a tough subjective colour because it covers other color names like indigo, violet, magenta, etc.

This Common Eupithecia Moth cat was spotted in my backyard, really standing out against the echinacea bloom. It may have been a mutant in coloring because later I found others that weren’t nearly so colorful.

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Thank you @isopodguy for keeping the color fun alive! Beautiful posts everyone.

This outrageously purple mushroom was really exciting to see
Cortinarius iodes (Viscid Violet Cort)

This one was even more thrilling for me (although it looks pink after the above /-;)
Clavaria zollingeri (Violet Coral Fungus)

This beautiful, cooperative fly
Myxosargus nigricormis (Delicate Soldier)

Mimulus ringens (Allegheny Monkeyflower)

The inside of this shell
Ensis leei (Atlantic Jackknife)

The wings of the female, on the left
Albuna fraxini (Virginia Creeper Clearwing)

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I’ve only got plants:

Fireweed Chamaenerion augustifolium

New England aster Symphyotricum novae-angliae

And the beautiful but highly invasive Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria

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A type of aster?

Violet coral fungus

Colorado blue columbine

Cucumber-tree seed pod

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To add to the purple variety, here is a mating pair of Rainieria flies

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https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/240938593
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/240938574
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/236280917
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/229395021

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Large-leaved aven


Corraline algae


Ochre sea star


Purple ribbon worm

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Larkspurleaf monkshood

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