Abalone..

Abalone is the common name used for a group of edible sea snails (gastropods).  They cling to the walls and wait patiently for a piece of kelp to come to them.  Abalone shells are fascinating.  They are like layers of bricks with protein binding them (like a brick and mortar house).  So, if something heavy falls on the shell, instead of shattering into tiny bits, the bricks slide and the protein in between takes the blunt of the hit.  Pretty cool body armour right!!!!




The shell of an Abalone has a flat spiral and usually oval shaped.  Both the meat and the shell of Abalones are desired albeit for different reasons.  Abalone shell interiors can have very bright colors and are used in jewelry making  as a source of 'mother-of-pearl'.  Like other shell creatures, there is possibility of pearls forming in the Abalone shells as well.

Like most animals, male species of Abalone are more attractive with stripes on the outer edges. 

The one on the left is a male while the one below is a female.

 The Abalones are available in different parts of the world and their meat is considered to be a delicacy (and/or a luxury) in different countries including Chile, South east Asia etc.




White Abalones are already highly endangered and illegal to fish.  Red Abalones might not be that far.  

In US, fishing Red Abalones need both a permit and a card that shows how many Abalones have been caught in a year.  Seems like the limit is set to 3 Abalones per day with a max limit of 24 per year.  Also there is a size limit for fishing them.  Abalones that are picked have to be atleast 7 inches in size.


When we visited the glass beach in Fort Bragg, there was a Abalone Watch group set up to check every diver coming out of the beach who went to pick Abalones.    So the Abalone watch measures every Abalone that is picked and make sure they all fall under the legal limits.  Here's to hoping they dont get to the state of extinction with over hunting.