Abalone means: a mollusk with a shell and edible meat.

Abalone, the genus Abalone (scientific name: Haliotis), is classified as a monocrustacean in shellfish taxonomy. It belongs to the family Abaloneidae of the order Primitive Gastropoda. There are more than 100 species of abalone found all over the world. Different species of abalone have different morphological characteristics, some of which have oval or semicircular shells, shallow shell texture and 5 to 16 protrusions on the surface of the shells, and thinner upper legs with a simple pattern.

Some abalone have variable characteristics, but usually oval, the shell pattern of the rib pattern and growth pattern of high protruding, the upper foot is deep and has obvious branching protrusions. The shell size of abalone varies according to species and age, with the largest abalone shells reaching more than 30 centimeters.

The abalone has a wide distribution range, but lives only in seawater, and is mainly found in oceanic rocky reefs and shallow waters all over the world except the Arctic Ocean, including the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Korea and other places. They prefer to live on rock surfaces or in rock caves. There are about 20 economically important species of Bow that can form large-scale catch production, and their geographic distribution is relatively concentrated.

Classification of abalone

Abalone is biologically classified as belonging to the phylum Mollusca, the class Gastropoda, the class Procellariiformes, the class Primitive Gastropoda, the family Abalone, and the genus Abalone. Abalone family exists in the same species with different names, and even a phenomenon of multiple names. In addition, new species (or subspecies) and regional hybrids are still being discovered, so it is difficult to count the number of species accurately. The abalone is divided into small, medium and large abalone.

There is still considerable debate about the number of species of abalone, and according to the taxonomic information of the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), there are 55 species of abalone in the genus Abalone***.10 Abalone is the only family under the order Primitive Gastropoda, and it comprises a number of different abalone species. Species of the family Abaloneidae are mainly distributed in the waters of the world's oceans, and different species of abalone exist from the tropics to the temperate zones, including the wrinkled disc abalone, the disc abalone, the large abalone, the western abalone, the mongoloid abalone, the nine-hole abalone, and so on.