Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Gastrochaena ovata G. B. Sowerby I, 1834

Length: 10 mm; height: 4.8 mm. A large specimen measures 22 mm by 15 mm.

Shallow water (less than 200 m depth)

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Animalia

Phylum
Mollusca

Class
Bivalvia

Order
Gastrochaenida

Superfamily
Gastrochaenoidea

Family
Gastrochaenidae

Genus
Gastrochaena

Species
ovata

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: ? Gastrochaena brevis Sowerby, 1834, type locality: Galapagos; G. hyalina Sowerby, 1834, type locality: Lord Hood's Island; BMNH: 197882 (Syntypes of Gastrochaena brevis Sowerby, 1834; original local. labels missing)

Origin: Native

Distribution

Distribution: The range is from San Diego, California, to Ecuador.

References

  • Finet, Y. (2001) The marine mollusks of the Galapagos Islands: a documented faunal list. Editions du Muséum d' Histoire naturelle, Genève, 237 pp.
  • Horton, T. Horton, T., Kroh, A., Ahyong, S., Bailly, N., Boyko, C. B., Brandão, S. N., Gofas, S., Hooper, J. N. A., Hernandez, F., Holovachov, O., Mees, J., Molodtsova, T. N., Paulay, G., Decock, W., Dekeyzer, S., Poffyn, G., Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Adlard, R., ... Zhao, Z. (2021) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
  • Keen, A.M. (1958) Sea Shells of Tropical West America. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 1st edition, 624 pp.

You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.

This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Gastrochaena ovata", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=10585. Accessed 5 June 2026.