Abalone ( (listen) or ; via spanish abulón, from rumsen aulón) is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family haliotidae. other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and, rarely, muttonfish or muttonshells in parts of australia, ormer in the uk, perlemoen in south africa, and the maori name for three species in new zealand is pāua. abalones are marine snails. their taxonomy puts them in the family haliotidae, which contains only one genus, haliotis, which once contained six subgenera. these subgenera have become alternate representations of haliotis. the number of species recognized worldwide ranges between 30 and 130 with over 230 spe...

Source: Wikipedia