Australian mussel

Mytilus planulatus

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–26 m
Water temperature8–28 °C
Best monthsFebruary, April, and December
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Lisa Bennett · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Mytilus planulatus is a species of mussel, native to New Zealand and Australia. This species is the only native mussel in Australia. It lives only in marine salt water environments.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Mytilus planulatus”, 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: 124 records
February: 125 records
March: 113 records
April: 184 records
May: 102 records
June: 39 records
July: 46 records
August: 65 records
September: 122 records
October: 97 records
November: 98 records
December: 130 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–26 m · Deepest record: 79 m

0–10 m: 23 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 8–28 °C

6–8 °C: 2 records
8–10 °C: 5 records
10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 7 records
14–16 °C: 105 records
16–18 °C: 7 records
18–20 °C: 3 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 1 records

Photos

no rights reserved, uploaded by Christine Braaten · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
no rights reserved, uploaded by Peter de Lange · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Shaun Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) John Barkla, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Svend Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Australian mussel, Blue mussel, New Zealand Blue Mussel, Tasmanian Blue Mussel

Names in 2 more languages

German: Australische Miesmuschel
Korean: 뉴질랜드담치

Other scientific names: Mytilus angustanus, Mytilus aoteanus, Mytilus corneus, Mytilus dunkeri, Mytilus lacunatus, Mytilus obscurus, Mytilus paetelianus, Mytilus tasmanicus, Mytilus ungularis

Similar species

Bay mussel
Mytilus edulis
Galician mussel
Mytilus galloprovincialis
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).
853 open-data records from 1936 to 2020.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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