Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Saccostrea palmula
ostra palmeada, Palmate oyster
Length: 60-80 mm.
Shallow water (less than 200 m depth), intertidal, attached to substrates (mangrove roots or rocks).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Mollusca
Class
Bivalvia
Order
Ostreida
Superfamily
Ostreoidea
Family
Ostreidae
Genus
Saccostrea
Species
palmula
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Ostrea palmula Carpenter, 1857, Dendostrea amara (Carpenter, 1863), Ostraea mexicana G. B. Sowerby II, 1871, Ostrea amara Carpenter, 1864, Ostrea conchaphila var. palmula Carpenter, 1857, Ostrea dalli Lamy, 1930, Ostrea frons (Linnaeus, 1759) sensu Carpenter, 1864, Ostrea tubulifera Dall, 1914, Saccostrea tubulifera (Dall, 1914) (Horton et al., 2021). Note: Based on the last synonym O. amara (Keen, 1971) the currently accepted name is deduced according to Horton et al., (2021)
Origin: Native
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Baja California to Ecuador and Ecuador (Galapagos Islands)
- Finet, Y. (2001) The marine mollusks of the Galapagos Islands: a documented faunal list. Editions du Muséum d' Histoire naturelle, Genève, 237 pp.
- Fischer, W. Krupp, F., Schneider, W., Sommer, C., Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (1995) Guia FAO para la identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Pacifico centro-oriental. Vol. I. Plantas e Invertebrados. FAO, Roma, 646 pp.
- Hickman, C.P. Jr. Finet, Y. (1999) A Field Guide to the Marine Molluscs of Galápagos. Sugar Spring Press, Lexington, Virginia, 150 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, Saccostrea palmula", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=8607. Accessed 31 October 2026.