Southern hammer oyster

Malleus meridianus

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth8–37 m
Water temperature17–29 °C
Best monthsSeptember and October
How commonOccasional

All species

Photo credit: (c) Josh Nitschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 109 records
February: 40 records
March: 54 records
April: 42 records
May: 49 records
June: 55 records
July: 63 records
August: 75 records
September: 196 records
October: 147 records
November: 89 records
December: 74 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 8–37 m · Deepest record: 37 m

0–10 m: 1 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 17–29 °C

16–18 °C: 23 records
18–20 °C: 4 records
20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 2 records
26–28 °C: 4 records
28–30 °C: 2 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Southern hammer oyster

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
103 open-data records from 1911 to 2001.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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