Horse mussel
Modiolus modiolus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedmolluscs
The horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus) is a species in the family Modiolidae, order Mytilida.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the horse mussel
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the horse mussel live?
Not recorded
Is the horse mussel endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the horse mussel classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumMollusca
- classBivalvia
- orderMytilida
- familyModiolidae
- genusModiolus
- SpeciesModiolus modiolus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Modiola gallica, Modiola gigantea, Modiola grandis, Modiola modiolus, Modiola modiolus var. minor, Modiola papuana, Modiola vulgaris, Modiolus gallicus, Modiolus modialus, Modiolus modiolus modiolus, Musculus modulus, Mytilus curtus, Mytilus curvirostratus, Mytilus curvirostrus, Mytilus modiolus, Mytilus modiolus var. cylindrica, Mytilus modiolus var. gigas, Mytilus modiolus var. ovata, Mytilus umbilicatus, Volsella modiolus
Other names and names in other languages (29)
- Horse-musselEnglish
- Northern horse musselEnglish
- Northern horsemusselEnglish
- slávka severníCzech
- almindelig hestemuslingDanish
- PferdemuschelGerman
- HevossimpukkaFinnish
- modioleFrench
- ムールガイJapanese
- 말홍합Korean
- o-skjellNorwegian Bokmål
- PaardemosselDutch
- o-skjelNorwegian Nynorsk
- Модиолус обыкновенныйRussian
- slávka severskáSlovak
- hästmusslaSwedish
- HestemuslingDanish
- grose MiesmuschelGerman
- Große MiesmuschelGerman
- grande mouleFrench
- Grande moule du NordFrench
- エゾヒバリガイJapanese
- 털담치Korean
- gewone paardenmosselDutch
- paardenmosselDutch
- Обыкновенный модиолусRussian
- MärrskalSwedish
- Stor blåmusslaSwedish
- större hästmusslaSwedish
Relatives of the horse mussel
Other species in the same genus Modiolus.
Bearded mussel
Modiolus barbatus
Tulip mussel
Modiolus americanus
Ear mussel
Modiolus auriculatus
Fat horsemussel
Modiolus capax
California horsemussel
Modiolus carpenteri
Philippine horse mussel
Modiolus philippinarum
CompareHorse mussel vs Bearded musselHorse mussel vs Tulip musselHorse mussel vs Ear musselHorse mussel vs Fat horsemussel
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the horse mussel?
The horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus) belongs to the family Modiolidae in the order Mytilida.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/modiolus-modiolus
“Horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/modiolus-modiolus.
@misc{modiolus_modiolus_2026,
title = {Horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/modiolus-modiolus},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}