Abalone
| Abalone | ||||||||||||
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Abalone in side view in the aquarium |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Haliotidae | ||||||||||||
| Rafinesque , 1815 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Haliotis | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
Abalone ( Haliotis ), including abalone and abalone called a genus of large are snails and the only genus of mono generic family of Haliotidae that warm in almost all seas (except in the western Atlantic) occur, sometimes in temperate zones such as Haliotis tuberculata in English Channel . They resemble an auricle in shape and have a shell rich in mother-of-pearl . They are therefore also called iris shells . The oldest abalones come from the Maastrichtian ( chalk ).
description
The ear-shaped housing has a spiral row of small openings at the edge, which are gradually closed during the growth phase. The last five to nine holes remain open. Through this, waste products of the snail can be disposed of and the seawater that has tumbled from the eyelashes into the inside of the mantle cavity can get out again. The mother-of-pearl inside of the bowl is used to make jewelry.
The animals still show echoes of right-left symmetry in the inner structure . On the other hand, in contrast to more agile snails, the spiral structure also extends to the foot: Although they still have two pulling muscles, one is much more pronounced than the other.
The snails' strong, oval foot , with which they cling to rocks near the coast , is a coveted delicacy, especially in East Asia. This fact contributed significantly to the fact that several species of abalone are now threatened with extinction.
Depending on the species, abalones can have a diameter of 10 to 25 cm and a height of up to 7.5 cm.
biodiversity
Worldwide, there are 66 Haliotis - species . Haliotis gigantea forms bizarrely shaped pearls that shimmer blue, green, gray or bronze. As with other mollusks , these colors - which can hardly be seen below 15 meters of water - are waste products of protein metabolism, which the edge of the mantle deposits in the shell as it grows.
The largest species with a diameter of 30 cm is the red abalone ( H. rufescens ), which occurs on the west coast of the United States .
Types (selection)
- Haliotis tuberculata
- Haliotis gigantea
- Haliotis japonica
- Haliotis rubiginosa
- Haliotis rubra
- Haliotis rufescens
- Haliotis volcanicus
Use by humans
In Japan , abalone muscle meat , which is mistakenly viewed as clams , is a coveted delicacy . Both Haliotis gigantea ( Japanese 雌 貝 (鮑) , megai (awabi) , literally: "female clam (sea ear)") and Haliotis japonica (syn. Sulculus diversicolor supertexta, syn. Haliotis diversicolor supertexta , which occurs frequently around Japan) Japanese 床 臥 / 常 節 , Tokobushi ) are consumed, and their meat is mainly eaten as sashimi (raw). They are also dried and cut into long thin strips for use as part of a noshi , a traditional gift badge . In South Korea, the abalone is also steamed, a process that takes over an hour for the abalone to lose its toughness.
H. rufescens and a few other species are grown commercially on abalone farms , particularly in Australia , China , Japan, and along the west coast of the United States . Commercial fisheries exist in California , Mexico , Japan, and South Africa .
Abalones are also used to extract mother- of- pearl .
Paua in art
In the Māori culture in particular , paua, Haliotis iris , are made into jewelry. This ranges from necklaces to the eyes in carved figures, tiki , or on the decorations of the meeting houses on a marae .
literature
- Daniel L. Geiger, Lindsay T. Groves: Review of Fossil Abalone (Gastropoda: Vetigastropoda: Haliotidae) with Comparison to Recent Species. In: Journal of Paleontology. 73 (5), ISSN 0022-3360 , pp. 872-885
Web links
- Family Haliotidae - Sea ears. Fischhaus Zepkow, accessed on June 21, 2013 .
- Peter Haffner: Abalone fishing in California: snails with horror. Spiegel Online, June 19, 2013, accessed on June 21, 2013 (text comes from Mare magazine No. 98, June / July 2013).