''Bathymodiolus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of deep-sea

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s, marine

bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s in the family

Mytilidae The Mytilidae are a family (biology), family of small to large Marine life, marine and Brackish water, brackish-water bivalve molluscs in the order (biology), order Mytilida. One of the genera, ''Limnoperna fortunei, Limnoperna'', even inhabits f ...

. Many of them contain intracellular

chemoautotroph A chemotroph is an organism that obtains energy by the oxidation of electron donors in their environments. These molecules can be organic (chemoorganotrophs) or inorganic (chemolithotrophs). The chemotroph designation is in contrast to phototroph ...

ic bacterial symbionts.

Species

Modern (non-fossil) species within the genus ''Bathymodiolus'' include: * '' Bathymodiolus childressi'' Gustafson, Lutz, Turner & Vrijenhoek, 1998 * '' Bathymodiolus japonicus'' Hashimoto & Okutani, 1994 * '' Bathymodiolus marisindicus'' Hashimoto, 2001 * '' Bathymodiolus platifrons'' Hashimoto & Okutani, 1994 * '' Bathymodiolus septemdierum'' Hashimoto & Okutani, 1994 * '' Bathymodiolus tangaroa'' Von Cossel & Marshall, 2003 * '' Bathymodiolus thermophilus'' Kenk & Wilson, 1985 * ''Bathymodiolus boomerang'' Cosel & Olu, 1998 There also are several

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

species, which are usually only tentatively assigned to

hydrothermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hot ...

and hydrocarbon seep-inhabiting mussel genera due to their conservative shell morphology and ongoing taxonomic revision of this group.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. 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

Bivalve genera Chemosynthetic symbiosis {{Mytilidae-stub