Largest abalone

The world's largest species of abalone or ormer is the red abalone Haliotis rufescens, which can attain a maximum shell length of 31 cm. It inhabits rocky creviced areas containing kelp upon which it feeds, ranging from the intertidal zone to water more than 180 m deep, but it is most commonly found in waters 6–40 m deep. Most abundant in the southern portion of its distribution range, it occurs from British Columbia in Canada down as far as Baja California in Mexico.

Abalones are famous for the iridescent appearance of their shells' inner surface, owing to its coating of nacre (mother-of-pearl), which has been used in jewellery, buttons, buckles and other fashion accessories for thousands of years, as witnessed by their discovery in certain South African archaeological sites dating back 100,000 years. Abalones also produce pearls, and these too have been collected for many centuries.