Abalone Temporal range: Late Cretaceous – Recent |
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Living abalone in tank showing epipodium and tentacles, anterior end to the right. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Vetigastropoda |
Superfamily: | Haliotoidea |
Family: |
Haliotidae Rafinesque, 1815 |
Genus: |
Haliotis Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Haliotis asinina Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 |
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Species | |
57, see species section. |
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Synonyms | |
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57, see species section.
Abalone (i/ˈæbəloʊniː/ or /ˌæbəˈloʊniː/; via Spanish abulón, from the Rumsen language aulón) is a common name for any of a group of small to very large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae.
Other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and muttonfish or muttonshells in Australia, ormer in Great Britain, perlemoen in South Africa, and pāua in New Zealand.