Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 7, 2026

Bathymodiolus

Bathymodiolus is a genus of deep-sea mussels, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae. Many of them contain intracellular chemoautotrophic bacterial symbionts.

Last revised
Jun 7, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
232 w
Citations
2
Source
Bathymodiolus
Bathymodiolus childressi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Mytilida
Family: Modiolidae
Genus: Bathymodiolus
Kenk & Wilson, 19851
Species

See text

Bathymodiolus is a genus of deep-sea mussels, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae. Many of them contain intracellular chemoautotrophic bacterial symbionts.

Species

Bathymodiolus thermophilus source ↗

Modern (non-fossil) species within the genus Bathymodiolus include:

There also are several fossil species, which are usually only tentatively assigned to hydrothermal vent and hydrocarbon seep-inhabiting mussel genera due to their conservative shell morphology and ongoing taxonomic revision of this group.2 They include:

  • Bathymodiolus (sensu lato) heretaunga Saether, Little, Campbell, Marshall, Collins & Alfaro, 2010
  • Bathymodiolus (sensu lato) inouei Amano & Jenkins, 2011
  • Bathymodiolus palmarensis Kiel, Campbell & Gaillard, 2010
References

References

  1. Kenk, V.C. & Wilson, B.R., 1985. A new mussel (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) from hydrothermal vents in the Galapagos Rift zone. Malacologia, 26 (1-2), 253-271.
  2. Saether, K.P., Little, C.T.S., Campbell, K.A., Marshall, B.A., Collins, M. & Alfaro, A.C. 2010. New fossil mussels (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) from Miocene hydrocarbon seep deposits, North Island, New Zealand, with general remarks on vent and seep mussels. Zootaxa, 2577: 1-45.