Only red abalone may be taken ; black, white, pink, and flat abalone are protected by law.

There is an extensive global black market in the collection and export of abalone meat.

* Haliotis cracherodii Leach, 1814 – the black abalone

Hot foods consumed are believed to restore ki, as well as sexual and physical stamina lost in the summer heat Commonly eaten boyangshik include: ginseng, chicken, dog, abalone, eel, carp, bone marrow, pig kidneys and black goat.

The black abalone, Haliotis cracherodii, is a species of large edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalones.

For example, Chumash peoples in central California were known to have been harvesting black abalone approximately a millennium earlier in the Morro Bay area.

Two black abalone shells in a tide pool at low tide

Juveniles do not tend to disperse great distances, and current populations of black abalone are generally composed of individuals that were spawned locally.

On San Miguel Island, archaeological evidence shows that the Island Chumash people and their ancestors ate black abalone for millennia and also used the shells to make fishhooks, beads, and ornaments.

After the Chumash and other California Indians were devastated by European diseases, and sea otters were nearly eradicated from California waters by the historic fur trade, black abalone populations rebounded and attracted an intensive intertidal fishery conducted primarily by Chinese immigrants from the 1850s to about 1900.

On June 23, 1999, the U. S. National Marine Fisheries Service ( NMFS ) designated the black abalone as a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act ( 64 FR 33466 ).

On December 21, 2006, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to NMFS to list the black abalone.

The NMFS proposed a critical habitat of 390 square kilometers for the endangered black abalone on September 28, 2010.

Even though harvesting black abalone is regulated in California, poaching still occurs.

Other threats include coastal development for residential areas, harbours and waste discharges, compounded by commercial and recreational fishing of the black abalone.

The depleted stocks of black abalone were further reduced by Withering syndrome, first discovered in 1985, when commercial fishermen reported large numbers of empty shells and dying abalones on the shores of several of the Californian Channel Islands ( including the islands of Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa Rosa, Santa Barbara, San Miguel, and San Clemente ).

In many locations, percentages greater than 90 % of individuals have been lost, and in some places, a total loss of the black abalone population occurred.

The largest abalone in South Africa, the perlemoen, Haliotis midae, occurs along approximately two-thirds of the country ’ s coastline.

A dorsal view of a live individual of the ass's ear abalone, Haliotis asinina

The pink abalone, Haliotis corrugata

Dorsal ( left ) and ventral ( right ) views of the blacklip abalone, Haliotis rubra

The white abalone, Haliotis sorenseni

* Haliotis alfredensis Reeve, 1846-the Alfred's abalone – synonym: Haliotis speciosa Reeve, 1846, the splendid abalone

* Haliotis asinina Linnaeus, 1758 – the ass ’ s ear abalone

* Haliotis australis Gmelin, 1791 – the Austral abalone

* Haliotis brazieri Angas, 1869 – Brazier ’ s abalone – synonym: Haliotis melculus, the honey abalone

** Haliotis brazieri f. hargravesi ( Cox, 1869 ) – synonym: Haliotis ethologus, the Mimic abalone, Haliotis hargravesi, the Hargraves ’ s abalone

* Haliotis coccoradiata Reeve, 1846 – the reddish-rayed abalone

* Haliotis corrugata Wood, 1828 – the pink abalone

These snails cling solidly with their broad muscular foot to rocky surfaces at sublittoral depths, although some species such as Haliotis cracherodii used to be common in the intertidal zone.

** Haliotis cracherodii californiensis

** Haliotis cracherodii cracherodii

Haliotis cracherodii comprises two subspecies:

* Haliotis cracherodii californiensis Swainson, 1822 ( synonyms: Haliotis bonita Orcutt, 1900 ; Haliotis californiensis Swainson, 1822 )

* Haliotis cracherodii cracherodii Leach, 1814 ( synonyms: Haliotis expansa Talmadge, 1957 ; Haliotis holzneri Hemphil, 1907 ; Haliotis imperforata Dall, 1919 ; Haliotis lusus Finlay, 1927 ; Haliotis rosea Orcutt, 1900 ; Haliotis splendidula Williamson, 1893 )