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Any of various large edible marine gastropods of the genus Haliotis, having an ear-shaped shell with a row of holes along the outer edge. The colorful pearly interior of the shell is often used for making ornaments. Also called ear shell.
[American Spanish abulón.]
The wild abalone, a gourmet shellfish, made it into our top alt-clicks thanks to a
story: Risking Life, Waistline and Freedom for Abalone
Posted May 11, 2005.
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A gastropod mollusk comprising the single genus Haliotis, family Haliotidae, also known as ear shell, ormer, or paua. The abalones are cosmopolitan species of temperate and tropical seas. They are active noctumally and feed principally on algae.
The shell is flattened, with an enlarged body whorl and reduced spire, and looks like an ear (see illustration). Characteristically, the shell is perforated by a series of small pores which allow for more direct elimination of water from the mantle cavity. Exposed parts of the body are pigmented and show a varying range of colors, such as black, green, or brown. The larvae are pelagic and free-swimming among the plankton in coastal waters for about 2 days, after which they settle down and develop to the adult. See also Circulation; Gastropoda; Respiratory pigments (invertebrate).
Typical abalone ear-shaped shell perforated by pores.
A shellfish (mollusc), Haliotus splendens, H. rufescens, H. cracherodii, also sometimes called ormer, or sea ear. A 100-g portion is a rich source of protein and niacin; a source of iron and vitamin B1; supplies 130 kcal (550 kJ).
[a-buh-LOH-nee] a gastropod mollusk (see both listings) found along the coastlines of California, Mexico and Japan. The edible portion is the adductor muscle, a broad foot by which the abalone clings to rocks. As with any muscle, the meat is tough and must be pounded to tenderize it before cooking. Abalone, used widely in Chinese and Japanese cooking, can be purchased fresh, canned, dried or salted. Fresh abalone should smell sweet, not fishy. It should also be alive-the exposed muscle should move when touched. Choose those that are relatively small and refrigerate as soon as possible. Cook abalone within a day of purchase. Fresh abalone is best sautéed and should be cooked very briefly (20 to 30 seconds per side) or the meat will quickly toughen. Abalone is known as ormer in the English Channel, awabi in Japan, muttonfish in Australia and paua in New Zealand. Its iridescent shell is a source of mother-of-pearl. See also shellfish.
The most conspicuous organ of an abalone, we are told, is its gonad. Females have a gray or green one, males a cream-colored one. In both genders, it is shaped like a crescent and extends around the side and to the rear. We are also told that abalones have hearts, but no brains. Analogies to certain sex-crazed, mindless humans are to be resisted.
What else? Abalones do have eyes, mouth, tongue. They have soft bodies, big strong feet, and big iridescent shells--just one of each per abalone. An abalone's foot has powerful suction, enabling it to stick tightly to a rock, where it can be shielded by its beautiful shell. In fact, it was the shell that was the attraction for our earliest example of the word in English: "The avelone, which is a univalve, found clinging to the sides of rocks, furnishes the finest mother-of-pearl," wrote a California author in 1850.
Abalone are mollusks, closely related to clams, scallops, and octopuses. They are found on the west coast of the United States and along the shores of other Pacific nations, as well as in South Africa. A really big abalone has a shell measuring nearly twelve inches across. The one you will eat, however, is more likely to be three or four inches. If you want to cook an abalone, be quick. You cook abalone fillets in butter in a very hot skillet for one or two seconds--that's right, seconds--on each side, then serve immediately. Longer cooking makes the abalone tough.
In their natural ocean habitat abalone are getting harder and harder to find. The United States in particular has seen its abalone harvest drop from 1,710 metric tons in 1968 to a mere 50 in 1997. However, the shortage has encouraged the beginnings of systematic abalone farming, or what we might call "abaculture"; there are now fifteen abalone farms in California. That should increase the supply.
Where did our name abalone come from? Apparently from a now-extinct Indian language spoken in the region of Monterey Bay, where abalone have long been harvested. The language is Rumsen, a member of the Costanoan family, all of whose languages are also extinct. Field notes from an 1884 investigation of the Rumsen language are archived at the University of California, Berkeley. Aside from that, we know very little about it.
For more information on abalone, visit Britannica.com.
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Abalone (from Spanish Abulón) are a group of shellfish (mollusks) in the family Haliotidae and the Haliotis genus. They are marine snails, and belong to the suborder Rhipidoglossa (in earlier classifications) in the large class Gastropoda. There is only one genus in the family Haliotidae, and about four to seven subgenera. The taxonomy of the family is still somewhat confused. The number of species recognized world-wide ranges from about 100 to 130 (due to the occurrence of hybrids).
Abalone shells have a low and open spiral structure, and are characterized by several respiratory holes in a row near the shell's outer edge. The innermost layer of the shell is composed of nacre or mother-of-pearl, which in many species is highly iridescent, giving rise to a range of strong and changeable colors which make them attractive to humans as a decorative object. The flesh of certain large abalones is considered by many to be a desirable food.
Abalones are also called ear-shells, haliotis, sea-ears and Venus's-ears, as well as muttonfish or muttonshells in Australia, ormer in Jersey and Guernsey, perlemoen in South Africa and pāua in New Zealand. They are all dting out in Victoria(Australia) due to a virus leaking out of a fish farm in South Australia.
The Haliotid family has a worldwide distribution, being found in some areas along the coastal waters of every continent, except the Atlantic coast of South America, the Caribbean (where there is only one rather rare, deep water species), and the East Coast of the United States. Most abalones are found mainly in cold waters, off the Southern Hemisphere coasts of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, and Western North America and Japan in the Northern Hemisphere.
The family has unmistakable characteristics: the shell is convex, covering the animal like a roof. It ranges from highly arched to very flattened, rounded to oval, slightly spiral with two to three whorls, the last one auriform grown into a large "ear", giving rise to the common name ‘ear-shell’. The body whorl has a series of holes — four to ten depending on the species — near the anterior margin, for the escape of water from the gills. There is no operculum.
The color is very variable from species to species. The iridescent nacre that lines the inside of the shell in all species can vary in color from silvery white, to pink, red and green-red, through to Haliotis iris, which shows predominantly deep blues, greens and purples.
These shells cling solidly with their broad muscular foot to rocky surfaces at sublittoral depths. Abalones reach maturity at a relatively small size. Their fecundity is high and increases with size (from 10,000 to 11 million eggs at a time).
The larvae are lecithotrophic or feed off a yolk sac. The adults are herbivorous and feed with their rhipidoglossan radula on macroalgae, preferring red algae. Sizes vary from 20 mm (Haliotis pulcherrima) to 200 mm (or even more) (Haliotis rufescens).
The Haliotid family has a worldwide distribution, along the coastal waters of every continent, except the Atlantic coast of South America, the Caribbean, and the East Coast of the United States. Most abalones are found mainly in cold waters, off the Southern Hemisphere coasts of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, and Western North America and Japan in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Chilean vast Pacific coast, the giant species called loco (Concholepas Concholepas, Bruguière, 1789) is notorious for its size (usually more than double the size of Californian and/or Japanese abalones), has a hard shell of a pitch-black color, and is widely exploited and consumed.
The family has unmistakable characteristics : the shell is rounded to oval, with two to three whorls, and the last one auriform, grown into a large "ear", giving rise to the common name ‘ear-shell’. The body whorl has a series of holes — four to ten depending on the species, near the anterior margin.
There is no operculum. The back is convex, ranging from highly arched to very flattened. These shells cling solidly with their muscular foot to rocky surfaces at sublittoral depths. The color is very variable from species to species. The inside of the shell consists of iridescent, silvery white to green-red mother-of-pearl through to Haliotis Iris which can comprise of pinks and reds with predominant deep blues, greens and purples.
Abalones reach maturity at a small size. Their fecundity is high and increases with size (from 10,000 to 11 million eggs at a time).
The larvae feed on plankton. The adults are herbivores and feed on macroalgae, preferring red algae. Sizes vary from 20 mm (Haliotis pulcherrima) to 200 mm (or even more) (Haliotis rufescens).
The shell of the abalone is known for being exceptionally strong. It is made of microscopic calcium carbonate tiles stacked like bricks. Between the layers of shells is a clingy protein substance. When the abalone shell is struck, the tiles slide instead of shattering and the protein stretches to absorb the energy of the blow. Material scientists at the University of California, San Diego are studying the tiled structure for insight into stronger ceramic products such as body armor.[1]
The dust created through the grinding and cutting of abalone shell is dangerous; appropriate safeguards should be taken to protect a person from inhaling these particles. A dust respirator that is NIOSH-approved N95, made for fine particles, using a ventilation system and wet grinding are requirements to working the shell safely. The calcium carbonate is a respiratory irritant and the particles can penetrate into the lower respiratory tree and cause irritant bronchitis and other respiratory irritation responses. The usual symptoms are cough and sputum production, and secondary infections can occur. If there are proteins left in the shell matrix, it is also possible that they can trigger an allergic (asthmatic) attack. In general, the more someone is exposed to something that triggers their asthma reaction, the larger the reaction. Allergic skin reactions can also occur.
The iridescence of the inside of the abalone shell lends itself to decorative inlays — in guitars, for example.
Sport harvesting of red abalone is permitted with a California fishing license and an abalone stamp card. Abalone may only be taken using breath-hold techniques: shorepicking. Scuba diving for abalone is strictly prohibited. Taking of abalone is not permitted south of the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. There is a size minimum of seven inches measured across the shell and a quantity limit of three per day and 24 per year. A person may be in possession of only three abalone at any given time.
Abalone may only be taken from April to November, not including July. Transportation of abalone may only legally occur while the abalone is still attached in the shell. Sale of sport-obtained abalone is illegal, including the shell. Only red abalone may be taken; black, white, pink, and flat abalone are protected by law.
An abalone diver is normally equipped with a thick wetsuit, including a hood, booties, and gloves. He or she would also wear a mask, snorkel, weight belt, abalone iron, and abalone gauge. It is common to take abalone in water a few inches deep up to 10 m (33 ft) deep; less common are freedivers who can work deeper than 10 m (33 ft). Abalone are normally found on rocks near food sources (kelp). An abalone iron is used to pry the abalone from the rock before it can fully clamp down. Visibility is normally five to ten feet. Divers commonly dive out of boats, kayaks, tube floats or directly off the shore. An eight inch abalone is considered a good catch, a nine inch would be extremely good, and a ten inch plus (250 mm) abalone would be a trophy catch. Rock- or shore-picking is a separate method from diving where the rock picker feels underneath rocks at low tides for abalone.
There has been a trade in diving to catch abalones off parts of the United States coast from before 1939. In World War II, many of these abalone divers were recruited into the United States armed forces and trained as frogmen.
There is an extensive global
Highly polished New Zealand pāua shells are extremely popular as souvenirs with their striking blue, green, and purple iridescence. Transporting unprocessed abalone shells out of New Zealand is illegal.
The largest abalone in South Africa, the perlemoen, Haliotis midae, occurs along approximately two-thirds of the country’s coastline. Perlemoen-diving has been a recreational activity for many years, but stocks are currently being threatened by illegal commercial harvesting.
Ormers (Haliotis tuberculata) are considered a delicacy in the British Channel Islands and are pursued with great alacrity by the locals. This has led to a dramatic depletion in numbers since the latter half of the 19th century, and 'ormering' is now strictly regulated in order to preserve stocks. The gathering of ormers is now restricted to a number of 'ormering tides', from the January 1 to April 30, which occur on the full or new moon and two days following. No ormers may be taken from the beach that are under 80 mm in shell length. Gatherers are not allowed to wear wetsuits or even put their heads underwater. Any breach of these laws is a criminal offence and can lead to fine of up to £5,000 or six months in prison [2]. The demand for ormers is such that they led to the world's first underwater arrest, when Mr. Kempthorne-Leigh of Guernsey was arrested by a police officer in full diving gear when illegally diving for ormers.
There have been a number of attempts to artificially grow (farm) abalone for the purpose of consumption.[2][3][4][5]
The meat of this mollusk is considered a delicacy in certain parts of Latin America (especially Chile), South East Asia, and East Asia (especially in China, Japan, and Korea). In Chinese speaking regions, abalone dishes are commonly known as bao yu.
Other species : Haliotis clathrata, Haliotis barbouri, Haliotis crebrisculpta, Haliotis dissona, Haliotis exigua, Haliotis fatui, Haliotis kamtschatkana assimilis, Haliotis kamtschatkana kamtschatkana, Haliotis madaka, Haliotis mariae, Haliotis patamakanthini, Haliotis pustulata, Haliotis roberti, Haliotis rubiginosa, Haliotis rubra, Haliotis rugosa, Haliotis thailandis, Haliotis unilateralis.
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