#4804 · 🐌 snails, slugs & other molluscs
California Mussel
Mytilus californianus
🐌 Snails, slugs & other molluscs 📍 outside Europe
📍 Clatsop County, OR, USA
📍 Pescadero, California, USA
📍 Newport Beach, CA, USA
📍 W Coast Rd, Capital, BC, CA
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © tsoleau · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 2. © kqedquest · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. © sea-kangaroo · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 5. © Phoebe Barnes · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Stephen Bentsen · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 7. Clatsop County, OR, USA:© no rights reserved · CC0
- 8. Pescadero, California, USA:© sea-kangaroo · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 9. Newport Beach, CA, USA:© quyksilver · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. W Coast Rd, Capital, BC, CA:© isabellameredith · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The California mussel ( Mytilus californianus ) is a large edible mussel, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Mytilidae.
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
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 24,681 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Timothy Abbott Conrad in 1837 (189 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- California Mussel
- scientific name
- Mytilus californianus
- class
- Bivalvia
- order
- Mytilida
- family
- Mytilidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 24,681
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1837 by Timothy Abbott Conrad
relatives· Mytilidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 62806, Wikidata Q3016358, GBIF 2285680, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.