Little Abalone Shells

Susan has an uncanny knack for seeing/finding Abalone shells on the beach, this past week proved better than ever. They are spread out on top of a Dell laptop. The largest is 2 5/8" and the smallest is 3/4"

NICE!!!

 

sweet little collection there. glue a magnet to the back of them and place on refrigerator door. it's an easy way to display them.

Damn Cabazon eating and spitting out the shells. 

Susan has an uncanny knack for seeing/finding Abalone shells on the beach, this past week proved better than ever. They are spread out on top of a Dell laptop.

They make great earrings, bought a pair for my wife back in my  diver days, great find.

Yeah, I know cabezon eat abalone because we often find them in the stomach of those we've taken. So in looking for more information, I found there are a lot more than cabbies munching!

"The causes of mortality of abalone can be divided into natural and human induced mortality. Human causes include fishing, pollution, and habitat destruction. Natural causes include old age, predation, disease, and environmental factors. As in many marine animals, likelihood of death by predation decreases with the age and size of the abalone; their main predators include invertebrates, fish and sea otters. Octopuses and rock crabs (Cancer spp.) are their main invertebrate predators, but sheep crab (Loxorhynchus grandis), California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus), Nuttall’s hornmouth (Ceratostoma nuttalli) and Kellett’s whelks (Kellettia kelletti) also prey on young abalone. The major fish predators include California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher), Cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus), Kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus), Kelp bass (Paralabraz clathratus), Moray eel (Gymnothorax mordax), and Bat rays (Myliobatis californica)."     - See more at: http://www.reefcheck.org/reef-news/an-in-depth-look-at-abalone-part-i#sthash.ePTtxcJM.dpuf

Nice collection 

Polished and everything!

Very cool

not sure if I'm correct please correct me if I'm not. was under the assumption that abalone shells under sized or legal size cannot be brought back when diving. don't know about beach combing for s :smt001ea shells.

not sure if I'm correct please correct me if I'm not. was under the assumption that abalone shells under sized or legal size cannot be brought back when diving. don't know about beach combing for s :smt001ea shells.

From the DFG Q & A web site

Question: I have picked up a number of empty abalone shells and pieces
of shells from various beaches to use for making jewelry. It’s obvious
that they have been sitting in water empty for a while because the
inside shows weathering from the saltwater. I know it is not legal for
abalone divers to sell the meat or the shells of the abalone, but are
there any laws prohibiting me from making jewelry to sell from these
empty shells I find? (Jan M., Novato)

Answer: You can generally pick up abalone shells and shell parts for
your personal use but these shells may not be sold or made into products
to sell. Marine Reserves, State Underwater Parks and other prohibited
areas do not allow any shell collecting. For example, there are some
public lands off of Point Arena that are owned and managed by the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM). BLM allows you to take live abalone, but you
are not allowed to collect empty shells. Wherever you go, you should
contact the controlling agency to find out what collecting activities
are legal for that area.
__________________

Those are awesome I would be Stoked

Damn Cabazon eating and spitting out the shells.

That's why cabbies are tasty 


I've witnessed a seastar going after a stubborn abalone that I was working on. It was all over the ab. Never saw one move that quick before.

Yeah I love Cabs and guess it helps the ab population by eating them.  Never seen the baby abalone in them but have seen 5-6 inch ones.   

I love Cabezon, too. It seems their diet consists mainly of abalone, crabs and kelp - that's gotta help make them so delicious!

That is a great display, I've picked up a few here at the cove, and was trying to figure out what to do with them. Usually hand them out to the kids that come visit
;0)