#4625 · 🐌 snails, slugs & other molluscs
Zebra Mussel
🇳🇱 Gewone driehoeksmossel ·Dreissena polymorpha
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © dallenstein · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © roy pilcher · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Martin Grimm · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Вячеслав Юсупов · CC BY 4.0
- 7. © Felix Riegel · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © A. Flinn (and M. Finn) · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Felix Riegel · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The zebra mussel ( Dreissena polymorpha ) is a small freshwater mussel. This species was originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, being first described in 1769 by the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in the Ural, Volga, and Dnieper rivers. However, the zebra mussel has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas, and has become an invasive species in many different countries worldwide. Since the 1980s, they have invaded the Great Lakes and the...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 71 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 10,173 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Peter Simon Pallas in 1771 (255 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Zebra Mussel
- Nederlands
- Gewone driehoeksmossel
- scientific name
- Dreissena polymorpha
- class
- Bivalvia
- order
- Myida
- family
- Dreissenidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 71
- sightings in Europe
- 2,853
- sightings worldwide
- 10,173
- GBIF records in NL
- 5,458
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1771 by Peter Simon Pallas
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Dreissenidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 116340, Wikidata Q752130, GBIF 2287072, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.