This mussel is native to the Pacific Ocean from Siberia to Singapore, but it has also been accidentally introduced and become an invasive species in numerous other areas worldwide.

This species is differentiated from other mussels by its relatively small size and inflated shape, as well as by the greenish colour of its outer periostracal layer.

[4] Arcuatula senhousia is native to the Pacific Ocean, inhabiting coastal areas from Siberia and the Kuril Islands south to Singapore.

[3][4] The Asian date mussel is generally found in sheltered mud or other soft substrates up to twenty metres below the surface of the water.

[4] In the Swan River estuary in Western Australia, the mussel population has a high mortality rate in the late autumn and early winter.

In the Swan River estuary of Western Australia, for example, predation occurs mainly by boring carnivorous gastropods such as Nassarius burchardi or Bedeva paivae, which drill through the mussel's thin shell.

[4] Recent research[citation needed] has emphasized the importance of the predation of Arcuatula senhousia by native fauna as a means of reducing the negative effects of the invasive species on ecosystems.

In the Swan River estuary in Western Australia, for example, the presence of mats of Arcuatula senhousia has caused an increase in the biomass of benthic macro-organisms in general.

[6] Similar occurrences have been observed at Sacca di Goro, a brackish lagoon in the Po River Delta of the Northern Adriatic Sea in Italy, which the Asian date mussel invaded in the early 1990s.

Researchers there have found that growth and survival of suspension feeders has significantly decreased following the arrival of the Asian date mussel.

Mussel mats have no significant effect on the mortality of deeper-dwelling clam species such as Tapes decussatus and Ruditapes philippinarum.

[8] Competition with native species is the primary cause of concern in areas of New Zealand where the Asian date mussel has invaded.