Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819
Western Mediterranean & Adriatic, and other places along the european coasts where mussels are farmed: sea of Azov, Galicia, Arcachon basin, Morbihan gulf, Wadden See… The species is known from the western coasts of the British Isles, and is invasive in western South Africa or in pacific coast of north America. It is farmed in Japan, E. China and New Zealand. The “Black Mussel” lives in dense colonies, attached on intertidal hard substrates, down to the lower photic zone and maybe deeper: « 50-80m deep » in a spanish data from my collection. Filter feeder.

4m deep, Cap d’Agde, S. France, 81mm.
Many synonyms: dilatatus, flavus, glocinus, hesperianus, lamarckianus, orbicularis, pelecinus, sagittatus, succineus…
Dredged off Estepona, Málaga, Andalucia, S. Spain. 86mm.
Plage de la Vieille Nouvelle, Port-la-Nouvelle, Aude, Occitania, S. France. 88mm. The shape of the shell is less slender than in edulis, with a more pronounced posterodorsal angle.
Original pictures provided by A. Bertrand (FR).
(CC BY-NC-SA)
1: Trabzon, NE. Turkey. 65,5mm.
2: Çanakkale, Dardanelles Channel, NW. Turkey. 73,8mm.
Original pictures provided by P. Ovalis (GR).
(CC BY-NC-SA)
Immature specimens from the littoral at Kepez, Çanakkale.
14-16mm.
A cluster on a rope, Prapatno bay, southern coast of Pelješac peninsula, Dubrovnik-Neretva Comitat, S. Croatia.
Mussels na buzaru at Ston, Pelješac peninsula.

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