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Red Abalone

Haliotis rufescens Swainson 1822

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An abalone's eyes can detect only vague contrasts between light and dark. Its nervous system does not contain a brain. It instead it uses a nerve center with nerve chords leading to ganglia, which control the animal's movements. As a result of their sedentary lifestyle, abalones can easily become covered with marine growths and serve as refuges for other small creatures. The large, flat shell may support a modest community of algae, sponges, barnacles, bryozoan, and hydroids. As many as 90 species of small living gastropods have been found living on the shells.

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Middlebrook, C. 1999. "Haliotis rufescens" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Haliotis_rufescens.html
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Conservation Status

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In the recent past, the abalone has been over-fished and exploited by fisheries, and by commercial and sport divers. As a result, abalone populations have been drastically reduced. California has passed many strict regulations in order to keep the abalone population flourishing. These laws include protecting abalone smaller than 8 inches in diameter, prohibiting the canning of abalone, and also prohibiting the shipment of fresh or frozen meat out of state.

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Middlebrook, C. 1999. "Haliotis rufescens" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Haliotis_rufescens.html
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Benefits

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Abalone is commercially valuable for is edible foot, which is considered a delicacy and marketed fresh, dried, powdered, or frozen in fillets and steaks. The bulk of the crop goes to restaurants all over the world. About 2,800 metric tons or approx. 80, 000 individuals are taken in annually. The abalone shell, with its iridescent greens, blues, pinks and copper colors is used as a source of mother-of-pearl for art, and it is also found in many common decorative items such as buttons, ornaments, and trinkets.

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Trophic Strategy

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A strict vegetarian feeding primarily on sessile macro-algae, kelp and plankton. In the southern part of its geographical ranges, they consume mainly giant kelp, and in the northern ranges, bull kelp. Abalones are able to detect food only at close proximities. Once food is detected, the abalone carefully glides slowly along, feeling its way, until it reaches the alga. It then raises its foot and comes down on the plant, trapping it beneath its body. It then consumes the alga, using its small rasplike teeth and extruding tongue, which often measures one-third of the animal's total body length. If interfered with while feeding, the abalone instantly clamps down, pulling its shell over its soft body. In this position it is difficult for most predators to remove the abalone from its substrate.

Plant Foods: algae; macroalgae ; phytoplankton

Primary Diet: herbivore (Algivore); planktivore

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Distribution

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The red abalone ranges from southern Oregon to Baja California.

Biogeographic Regions: pacific ocean (Native )

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Middlebrook, C. 1999. "Haliotis rufescens" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Haliotis_rufescens.html
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Habitat

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Red abalone are found in intertidal areas attached to rocks from 20-100 feet. The depth changes from one area to another depending on environmental factors. In the southern parts of California, it has been found deeper than fifty or sixty feet. Farther north, closer to southern Oregon, it can be found from the low tide zone out to about fifty feet. It prefers water from forty-five to about 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical

Aquatic Biomes: benthic ; coastal

Other Habitat Features: intertidal or littoral

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Middlebrook, C. 1999. "Haliotis rufescens" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Haliotis_rufescens.html
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Morphology

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The red abalone is a primitive, snail-like, univalve creature with myopic eyes on the end of retractable stalks, long jet-black tentacles, a large cupped mouth, and a black epipodeum which occasionally has alternating gray stripes.The outside of the large, thick shell is a dull brick red and a faint spiral that can be seen on one end. It is an asymmetrical oval in shape, broad and not very convex. The abalone breathes and discharges wastes through a row of holes on one side of the shell. There are typically 3-5 holes which fill up and are replaced by new holes as the abalone ages. The red abalone is the largest of all the abalone species.

Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry

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Middlebrook, C. 1999. "Haliotis rufescens" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Haliotis_rufescens.html
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Reproduction

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The sexes are separate. The gonads of the females are green and those of the male, yellowish. Spawning takes place in from the middle of February through the first weeks of April. Males eject sperm and females eject eggs ( over 2 million in one spawning season) through the water. In 10 days, the free-swimming larva, called veligers, settle to the bottom and, within 2 months, develop into small sized adults. By the age of 1 year, an abalone is about 1 inch long, and within 4 years it reaches sexual maturity, at about 5 inches in length.

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Middlebrook, C. 1999. "Haliotis rufescens" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 27, 2013 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Haliotis_rufescens.html
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Habitat

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Primarily subtidal, + some lower intertidal on inaccessible rocky, wave-swept areas of the open coast. Found especially on the underside of overhanging ledges.
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Distribution

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Geographical Range: Central British Columbia to Baja California; uncommon north of Monterey. Abalones are much less common all along the Pacific coast than they were in years past, most likely because of harvesting by humans.
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Comprehensive Description

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Outside of shell is rough and lumpy or wavy, pinkish or brick red unless overgrown with algae or encrusted with invertebrates. Underside of the shell has a prominent pink border but otherwise is pearly. The shell is thick and the muscle scar in the center is prominent. Usually has only 3-4 open holes, which are oval and slightly raised. Length to nearly 30 cm.
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Look Alikes

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How to Distinguish from Similar Species: No other local abalone grows as large as this one. Any abalone above about 15 cm is unlikely to be another species. Haliotis kamtschatkana has a thinner shell without a prominent muscle scar. Haliotis cracherodii has a smooth black shell. H. walallensis has spiral ridges on the shell, no muscle scar, and its shell is small, reddish, with pale green, blue, or white mottling. Note: Abalones often hybridize. In southern California this species hybridizes with H. sorensoni, H. corrugata, and H. kamtschatkana; and rarely with H. walallensis.
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Comprehensive Description

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Biology/Natural History: This abalone can grow to larger size than any other abalone in this area. Abalones are algae grazers; mostly on microalgal films on the rocks though adults also capture pieces of kelp with their foot and consume them. The red color in the shell comes from rufescine; which is similar to the phycoerythrin found in red algae. If the abalone has been feeding primarily on brown algae the shells are aquamarine, green, or white instead of red. A diet alternating between red and brown may give a banded shell. Boring sponges often inhabit the older portions of the shell. The small boring clam Penitella conradi may bore into the shell from the outside, causing the abalone to secrete an extra blister of nacre inside to keep the clam from bursting through. The tissue of the foot is often iridescent, and the tentacles are black. This species becomes sexually mature at 6 years, and may live for 20 years. They spawn throughout the year, especially February to April. A large female may have over 12 million ripe oocytes. The veliger larvae are induced to settle by compounds released from coralline algae, jpon which the young abalones graze. This species is commercially the most important, and is commonly served in restaurants. They are also prized by otters, rock crabs Cancer antenarius, octopus, and the seastars Pycnopodia helianthoides and Pisaster ochraceous. They exhibit an galloping, zigzag escape response from predatory seastars, with the upper part of the foot extended over the edge of the shell. Adult abalones occupy a home scar and do not range far. Fossils of abalone are found in Cretaceous strata. They exist in several oceans but grow to largest size in the Pacific. The swimming veliger larvae chew on coralline algae, which releases GABA. This chemical induces the veligers to settle and metamorphose into juveniles. The abalone scrapes only the surface off the coralline algae, so it actually benefits the algae by removing fouling epiphytes. The animal obtains a red dye from the algae, which it incorporates into its shell for the pink color. The color probably helps camouflage the abalone from predators such as octopus.
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Habitat

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Depth Range: Intertidal to over 180 meters depth; primarily subtidal and most abundant from 20 to 40 m depth
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Haliotis rufescens

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Interior of the shell of a red abalone. The US coin (quarter) is 23 mm, or a little under an inch in diameter
Outer surface of shell of red abalone, viewed from the anterior end. The coin is 23 mm (almost 1 inch) across

Haliotis rufescens (red abalone) is a species of very large edible sea snail in the family Haliotidae, the abalones, ormer shells or paua.[3] It is distributed from British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico.[4][5] It is most common in the southern half of its range.[4]

Red abalone is the largest and most common abalone found in the northern part of the state of California.[6]

Habitat

Red abalone live in rocky areas with kelp. They feed on the kelp species that grow in their home range, including giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera), feather boa kelp (Egregia menziesii), and bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana). Juveniles eat coralline algae, bacteria, and diatoms.[7] They are found from the intertidal zone to water more than 180 m (590 ft) deep, but are most common between 6 and 40 m (20 and 131 ft).[4]

Shell description

The red abalone's shell length can reach a maximum of 31 cm (12 in), making it the largest species of abalone in the world.[8]

The shell is large, thick, dome-shaped, and usually covered with barnacles, vegetation, or other marine growth making the color and shell sculpture difficult to determine. It is usually a dull brick red color externally. Typically the shell has three to four slightly raised oval holes or respiratory pores, although specimens with no holes and others with more than four have been found. These holes collectively make up what is known as the selenizone which form as the shell grows. The inside of the shell appears polished and is strongly iridescent. A central, prominent muscle scar is easily visible in the shells of most Red Abalone, marking the location at which Haliotis rufescen's strong columellar muscle attaches.[9]

This species was used as the subject in a study of the microscopic development of nacre.[10]

External anatomy of soft parts

Below the edge of the shell, the black epipodium and tentacles can be seen. The underside of the foot is yellowish white in color.

Sex Ratio

Female members of dioecious molluscan species have been known to be more common than males. In populations that experience human predation, this difference can be exacerbated, as is the case with populations of Haliotis rufescens. From 1972-1973, researchers studying red abalone populations at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse Station and Van Damme State Park found that the level at which human predation occurs can have profound effects on the age class structure of each population. For many years, the abalone at Van Damme were heavily fished and the population structure reflected a notable lack of larger, older individuals. At Point Cabrillo, however, abalone harvesting had been halted for some time, and populations of red abalone showed the development of a natural age class structure and sex ratio.[11]

Diseases

Red abalones are subject to a chronic, progressive and lethal disease: the withering syndrome or abalone wasting disease caused by Rickettsiales-like prokaryotes. This disease has had a historically grim effect on the species overall, decimating populations across their native habitat. Today, the effects of withering syndrome on current populations are poorly understood, but populations are still low. Elevated water temperatures have been shown to speed up the progression and transmission of withering syndrome in infected individuals. Exposed abalones experiencing starvation at 18.0 °C are far more likely to become infected than exposed individuals at 12.3 °C. This was shown in a 2005 study which was the first to indicate that temperature has a significant effect on Rickettsiales-like, prokaryote induced wasting syndrome transmission.[12]

History of human use

Red abalone has been used since prehistoric times—red abalone shells have been found in Channel Island archaeological sites dated to nearly 12,000 years old. Red abalone middens—refuse deposits where red abalone shells are a major constituent—are abundant in archaeological sites of the Northern Channel Islands dated between about 7500 and 3500 years ago. The Native American Chumash peoples also harvested this species along the Central California coast in the pre-contact era.[13] The Chumash and other California Indians also used red abalone shells to make a variety of fishhooks, beads, ornaments, and other artifacts.

History of diseases

Inner view of the shell of a red abalone.

In the 1980s, an employee of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who was privately farming abalone in California imported some South African abalone (Haliotis midae) and failed to quarantine them. With the abalone were introduced the non-native polychaete worm Terebrasabella heterouncinata. This worm escaped into the ocean at Cayucos, California, where an abalone farm had long been established. It also entered the wild at many other sites. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Department of Fish and Wildlife joined the staff of the abalone farm and many volunteers to eradicate the pest.[14]

Shortly after this, another disease of abalone appeared on Santa Cruz Island. It spread to the other Channel Islands of California and to the mainland of California. This bacterial disease proved to be devastating to both wild and farmed populations. It was named "withering syndrome" because the abalones starved to death even when food was plentiful. This was because the bacterium infested the digestive tract of the abalones and prevented digestion and absorption of kelp, the abalone's primary food source. The bacterium is a member of the family Rickettsiaceae.[15]

Coincidentally, withering syndrome first appeared a few years after H. midae were imported into California, near Smugglers Cove on Santa Cruz Island, adjacent to the area where seaweed was harvested for an abalone farm at Port Hueneme, California.[16] Its spread was aided by the Department of Fish and Game, which planted infected abalone into the wild north of Point Conception.[17]

This bacterium attacks several species of abalone. It causes the viscera and foot muscle to atrophy, causing lethargy and starvation. The infected abalone cannot move along the substrate or right itself when upended. The disease is fatal.[15]

Withering syndrome, overfishing, and habitat loss has been responsible for the listing of black abalone and white abalone as Endangered Species. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service will begin a program to reintroduce abalone. Withering syndrome has struck all the abalone farms in California at one time or another, and has also been spread to Iceland and Ireland by the export of infected California Red Abalone, H. rufescens.

Abalone exported to Israel before H. midae were imported to California were not reported to have withering syndrome. Black abalone, red abalone, green abalone, white abalone, and two other species of abalone have virtually disappeared from Southern California because of withering syndrome, while the Northern California populations have remained more numerous because of the colder waters. Green abalone and white abalone are now not common in Northern California, whereas they were once numerous in Southern California, and black abalone may become extinct in the near future.

Farming

Because of the destruction of most wild populations, abalone farming has become a booming business. Unlike some aquaculture operations, the farming of abalone is considered to be a form of sustainable agriculture.[18] Few chemicals are used in the process and the abalone are fed locally harvested kelp, which promptly grows back in abundance.[18] Some algae is grown for the purpose, as well.[18]

Wild harvest

In 1916, documentation of the modern California fishery began.[19] Fishing for these abalone populations peaked in the 1950s and 1960s and was followed by a decline in all five abalone species, red, green, pink, white, and black.[19] Prior to this point, the fishery seemed sustainable with the increase in species that could be fished and the expansion of fishing areas.[20] Disease and the recovery of sea otter populations contributed to the decline of the abalone, and the California Fish and Game Commission ended fishing for abalone in 1997.[19]

In Northern California, however, commercial fishing was only legal for three years during World War II.[21] As a result, a recreational fishery still exists in northern California. Because scuba diving to harvest abalone is banned, the fishery consists of shore pickers searching the rocks at low tide, and free divers using breath-hold diving to search for them. This essentially creates a reserve for the abalone in the water below 30 ft (9 m), where few divers are skilled enough to go. Currently, the minimum legal size is 7 in (18 cm), but a moratorium has been in effect since 2017.

References

  1. ^ Lindberg, D. R. 1992. Evolution, distribution and systematics of Haliotidae. Pp 3–18 in: S. A. Shepherd, M. Tegner, and S. A. Guzman, eds. Abalone of the world: biology, fisheries and culture. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.
  2. ^ Peters, H., Rogers-Bennett, L. & De Shields, R.M. (2021). "Haliotis rufescens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T78771583A78772573. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T78771583A78772573.en.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Rosenberg, G. (2014). Haliotis rufescens Swainson, 1822. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2014-10-28
  4. ^ a b c Cowles, D. (2005). Haliotis rufescens. Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine Biological Department, Walla Walla University. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  5. ^ NatureServe. 2015. Haliotis rufescens. NatureServe Explorer. Version 7.1. February 11, 2016.
  6. ^ Red Abalone Fishery Management Plan. California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
  7. ^ Red abalone (Haliotis rufescens). Aquarium of the Pacific. Long Beach, California.
  8. ^ Life History Information for Selected California Marine Invertebrates and Plants. California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
  9. ^ Cox, Keith W. (1962). "Fish Bulletin No. 118. California Abalones, Family Haliotidae". UC San Diego Fish Bulletin. 118. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  10. ^ Yao, N., et al. (2009). Organic–inorganic interfaces and spiral growth in nacre. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 6(33), 367-76.
  11. ^ Giorgi, A. E.; DeMartini, John D. (1977). "A study of the reproductive biology of the red abalone, Haliotis rufescens Swainson, near Mendocino, California" (PDF). California Fish and Game. 63 (2): 80–94. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  12. ^ Braid, Beverly A.; Moore, James D.; Robbins, Thea T.; Hedrick, Ronald P.; Tjeerdema, Ronald S.; Friedman, Carolyn S. (2005). "Health and survival of red abalone, Haliotis rufescens, under varying temperature, food supply, and exposure to the agent of withering syndrome". Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 89 (3): 219–231. doi:10.1016/j.jip.2005.06.004. PMID 16039668. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  13. ^ Hogan, C. M. Los Osos Back Bay. The Megalithic Portal, editor A. Burnham (2008).
  14. ^ Culver, Carolynn S. & M. Kuris, Armand (2000). "The apparent eradication of a locally established introduced marine pest". Biological Invasions. 2 (3): 245–253. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.477.2351. doi:10.1023/A:1010082407254. S2CID 38680268.
  15. ^ a b Withering Syndrome of Abalone. Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
  16. ^ Lafferty, K. D., & Kuris, A. M. (1993). Mass mortality of abalone Haliotis cracherodii on the California Channel Islands: tests of epidemiological hypotheses. Marine Ecology – Progress Series, 96, 239-239.
  17. ^ Friedman, Carolyn S. & Finley, Carl A. (2003). "Anthropogenic introduction of the etiological agent of withering syndrome into northern California abalone populations via conservation efforts". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 60 (11): 1424–1431. doi:10.1139/f03-121.
  18. ^ a b c Bailey, K. M. Monterey Bay abalone farm shows what sustainable aquaculture can be like. Earth Island Journal March 12, 2015.
  19. ^ a b c Haaker, P. L; Taniguchi, I.; Artusio, M. (2005). "Assessment of Abalone Stocks in Southern California: The First Stage of Recovery" (PDF). In: Godfrey, J. M.; Shumway, S. E. Diving for Science 2005. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Symposium on March 10–12, 2005, at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut. American Academy of Underwater Sciences. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-11.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  20. ^ Karpov, K., Haaker, P., Taniguchi, I., & Rogers-Bennett, L. Serial depletion and the collapse of the California abalone (Haliotis spp.) fishery. Pp 11-24 In: Workshop on Rebuilding Abalone Stocks in British Columbia. A. Campbell, Ed. Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. NRC Research Press, 2000.
  21. ^ "Marine Protected Areas in Central California and Potential Benefits to Selected Species: Abalone" (PDF). California Department of Fish and Game. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-02. Retrieved 2012-05-07.

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Haliotis rufescens: Brief Summary

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Interior of the shell of a red abalone. The US coin (quarter) is 23 mm, or a little under an inch in diameter Outer surface of shell of red abalone, viewed from the anterior end. The coin is 23 mm (almost 1 inch) across

Haliotis rufescens (red abalone) is a species of very large edible sea snail in the family Haliotidae, the abalones, ormer shells or paua. It is distributed from British Columbia, Canada, to Baja California, Mexico. It is most common in the southern half of its range.

Red abalone is the largest and most common abalone found in the northern part of the state of California.

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