White abalone
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White abalone
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Order: Archaeogastropoda Family: Haliotidae Genus: Haliotis Species: H. sorenseni
Binomial name
Haliotis sorenseni Bartsch, 1940

The white abalone, scientific name Haliotis sorenseni, is a species of large, edible, sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalones.

It is an endangered species. The white abalone may now have the smallest population of all 8 of the abalone species on the west coast of North America.

Distribution

Historically the white abalone ranged from Point Conception, California to Baja California, Mexico, and was found especially on the offshore islands.

Habitat

The white abalone is the deepest dwelling of eight species of California abalones, living at depths from 80 to 200 feet.

Human use

Two White Abalones

This species is said to have one of the most tender and flavorful meats of all the abalone species. Currently, white abalone is being maricultured in order to produce young that can be placed back in the ocean, in hopes of bringing this species back to secure population levels before it becomes extinct.

History of human exploitation of this species

This species was not discovered until 1940. Scripps Institution of Oceanography biologists conducted surveys of white abalone deep water habitat in the early 1970s, finding high concentrations of about one white abalone per square yard. Such densities were comparable to abundance of shallower species of abalone found in previously unfished or protected areas. Unfortunately, the high demand for this species led to a “boom-and-bust” fishery, which decimated the populations of this species in seven years.

Shell description

The white abalone usually has between 3-5 open holes in its shell. The outside shell color varies anywhere between red to brown while the inside is white and pink.

The soft parts of the animal

The shell tentacles are lacy, beige and yellow-green in color.

References

• Team Spawns Rare White Abalone
• White Abalone - An Extinct Possibility?
• White Abalone (NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources)

External links

• "Race To Save the White Abalone" video links (NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center)
• White Abalone Research (NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center)
• Draft Recovery Plan 2006 (pdf) (NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources)
• "Hope for the White Abalone" (2004)
• Sonoma County Abalone Network