Galician mussel

About this species

The Mediterranean mussel is a species of bivalve, a marine mollusc in the family Mytilidae. It is an invasive species in many parts of the world, and also an object of aquaculture.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Mediterranean mussel”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 362 records
February: 374 records
March: 402 records
April: 860 records
May: 693 records
June: 603 records
July: 690 records
August: 743 records
September: 551 records
October: 660 records
November: 602 records
December: 283 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–50 m · Deepest record: 1,125.5 m

0–10 m: 495 records
10–20 m: 221 records
20–30 m: 309 records
30–40 m: 237 records
40–50 m: 280 records
50–60 m: 122 records
60–70 m: 24 records
70–80 m: 4 records
80–90 m: 4 records
90–100 m: 3 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 19 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 5–23 °C

4–6 °C: 1 records
6–8 °C: 3 records
8–10 °C: 2 records
10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 39 records
14–16 °C: 186 records
16–18 °C: 52 records
18–20 °C: 66 records
20–22 °C: 8 records
22–24 °C: 8 records

Photos

(c) linkie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Fotios Christodoulou, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola van Berkel, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) ahabo, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Chris Taklis, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Parsa Fard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kostas Zontanos, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Galician mussel, Mediterranean mussel, Padstow mussel

Names in 5 more languages

German: Blaubartmuschel, Mittelmeermiesmuschel, Mittelmeer-Miesmuschel, Seemuschel
Spanish: mejillón mediterráneo, mejillón rubio
French: moulé de Méditerranée, moule de provence, moule méditerranéenne
Japanese: ムラサキイガイ
Korean: 지중해담치

Other scientific names: Mytilus dilatatus, Mytilus fischerianus, Mytilus flavus, Mytilus glocinus, Mytilus hesperianus, Mytilus lamarckianus, Mytilus obesus, Mytilus orbicularis, Mytilus pelecinus, Mytilus sagittatus, Mytilus succineus

Similar species

Bay mussel
Mytilus edulis
Australian mussel
Mytilus planulatus
Mytilus coruscus
Asian date mussel
Arcuatula senhousia
New Zealand Ribbed Mussel
Aulacomya maoriana
Austromytilus rostratus

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.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
7,537 open-data records from 1880 to 2024.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.