Abalones

Abalone Temporal range: Late Cretaceous – Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
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
Species
57, see species section.
Synonyms
Euhaliotis Wenz, 1938 Eurotis Habe & Kosuge, 1964 Exohaliotis Cotton & Godfrey, 1933 Haliotis (Haliotis) Linnaeus, 1758 Haliotis (Nordotis) Habe & Kosuge, 1964 Haliotis (Notohaliotis) Cotton & Godfrey, 1933 Haliotis (Padollus) Montfort, 1810 Haliotis (Paua) C. Fleming, 1953 Haliotis (Sulculus) H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 Marinauris Iredale, 1927 Neohaliotis Cotton & Godfrey, 1933 Nordotis Habe & Kosuge, 1964 Notohaliotis Cotton & Godfrey, 1933 Ovinotis Cotton, 1943 Padollus Montfort, 1810 Paua C. Fleming, 1953 Sanhaliotis Iredale, 1929 Schismotis Gray, 1856 Teinotis H. Adams & A. Adams, 1854 Tinotis P. Fischer, 1885 (invalid: unjustified emendation of Teinotis) Usahaliotis Habe & Kosuge, 1964

57, see species section.

Abalone (/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.

Abalone are marine snails. Their taxonomy puts them in the family Haliotidae which contains only one genus, Haliotis, which once contained six subgenera. These subgenera have become alternate representations of Haliotis. The number of species recognized worldwide ranges between 30 and 130 with over 230 species-level taxa described. The most comprehensive treatment of the family considers 56 species valid, with 18 additional subspecies.