Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Talmud for Menachot 87:2

ת"ר חלזון זהו גופו דומה לים וברייתו דומה לדג ועולה אחד לשבעים שנה ובדמו צובעין תכלת לפיכך דמיו יקרים

and in shape it resembles a fish; it appears<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'comes up', i.e., from the sea; so Rashi in San. ');"><sup>3</sup></span> once in seventy years, and with its blood one dyes the blue thread; and therefore it is so expensive.

Tractate Tzitzit

Should a man dye [the zizith of] a ṭallith for himself, they are invalid for religious use if he intended to test [the dye].27The dyeing of zizith must be for the specified purpose of the commandment. The reading ‘to test’ [lenassoth] is preferable to the variant ‘to cover himself’ [lekassoth]. If he dyed them [with an ordinary dye], even four or five times, they are invalid, since the blue [of the zizith] must be dyed only with that of ḥillazon.28A species of mollusc. What does the ḥillazon resemble? In its formation it resembles a fish and [the colour of] its body resembles [the blueness of] the sky. Its appearance is a very rare occurrence29lit. ‘it only rises [from the sea] in seventy years’. and consequently it is very costly.
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