Abalone
Mollusca – Gastropoda
Distribution: 
The ear-shaped shell of an abalone is hard and rough on the outside to protect the animal from predators, and smooth and shiny on the inside to protect the soft body from damage. Water is drawn in near the front of the shell, passes through the gills, and leaves through the row of respiratory holes near the edge of the shell. Abalone are herbivores – they feed on algae mainly at night and hold on tightly to the rocks during the day.
Did you know?
An abalone does not have a blood-clotting agent and can therefore bleed to death if it is damaged or injured when being removed from a reef.
In This Section
- Chordates – Animals with backbones
- Invertebrates – Animals without backbones
- Abalone
- Acorn barnacle
- Baler shell
- Blue button sea jelly
- Bluebottle
- Bryozoan
- Bubbler crabs and sand balls
- Chiton
- Cone shell
- Coral
- Cowry shell
- Crab
- Cuttlebone
- Goose barnacle
- Hermit crabs
- Horned ghost crab (Manburr)
- Limpet
- Mud crab
- Mussel
- Periwinkle
- Pipi
- Ram’s horn shell
- Razor clam
- Sand dollars
- Scallop
- Sea hare
- Sea hares
- Sea jelly
- Sea star
- Sea urchin
- Silver-lip pearl oyster
- Sponge
- Tube worm
- Turban snail
- Violet snail
- Marine Pests
- Seagrasses and Algae
- Unusual Finds