Red Abalone
Haliotis rufescens · Mollusc
The largest abalone in the world, its shell up to 31 cm, clinging to rocks in the kelp forests from British Columbia to Baja California, 6 to 40 m deep, and eating giant and bull kelp. Its foot is a delicacy sold fresh, dried or in steaks, and its shell gives mother-of-pearl for buttons and ornaments. Shells have been found in Channel Islands sites nearly 12,000 years old; the Chumash made them into fishhooks, beads and ornaments. After decades of decline, California ended its abalone fishery in 1997, and the recreational fishery left in the north has been closed since 2017.
- Danger
- Harmless
- How it is met
- Alone, day and night
- Size
- Small
- In winter
- Active in winter
Where it lives
Feeds on
Bull Kelp, Giant Kelp
Gives
Abalone Steak, Red Abalone Shell
Sources
- Candice Middlebrook, Haliotis rufescens (red abalone). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 1999.
- Red abalone. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2026.
- Haliotis rufescens. Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre, 2026.
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