Does the Murex Trunculus Snail Come Up Every 70 Years?

Maybe. Wait and see!

Quoting Rabbi Mordechai Kornfeld:

All the difficulties seem to have been adequately dealt with — except for one. What is the once-in-seven(ty)-years cycle of “coming up” (“Oleh Echad L’Shiv’im Shana”) mentioned by the Gemara? Does the Murex Trunculus snail show any unusual prominence every seventy (or seven) years? So far, no such behavior has been determined in the Murex. It should be pointed out, however, that much of the headway made in Chilazon research is quite recent, and there has not yet been sufficient opportunity to study the nature of the Murex snail. We may yet discover that there is indeed some sort of regular periodical occurrence involved in Murex’s life cycle. It is interesting to note that a few kilometers north of Haifa there is a ravine known to the Arabs as Wadi Hilzun, which is near a mountain called Mount Chilazon. Rashi (Megilla 6a, Sanhedrin 91a — see also Rashi Menachot 44a) explains the “coming up” of the Chilazon, as the Chilazon emerging from the sea and ascending the mountains. Is it possible that every few years (or decades) there is some sort of mass migration of these snails through Wadi Hilzun and up Mount Chilazon, from which these places may have been given their names in ancient times? Only time will tell!

Of course, one could mention other points in this connection, but the straightforward approach here caught my eye.