Nancy Caruso- Marine Biologist

Green Abalone Restocking Program

Abalone are Gastropods!Gastro pod = Belly Foot

Most Diverse Class with over 40,000 speciesSnails, conch, nudibranch, abalone, limpets

The gastropoda is the largest and most certainly the best-known Class of all the molluscs. They are the most successful of the molluscan classes, and occupy almost every habitat on earth, from desserts to high mountains, fields, forests, lakes, streams and oceans - and most probably your back yard!! It is the only class to contain species that have ventured permanently on to land. (To do this, snails evolved an efficient gliding foot, eyes, an aggressive eating mechanism and a pulmonary system for breathing.)

Characteristics of Gastropods1. Well-developed head: tentacles, pigment eyes, CNS2. Torsion and development

unique to gastropods, torsion involves twisting of the body during the veliger stage, a 180o turn and upward twist of the posterior occurs to reposition it over the head represents a change of shell from a shield to a retreat 3. Shell Asymmetric helical coiling - separate event from torsion

Secondary loss of shell and detorsion - nudibranchs, slugs 4. Reproduction - dioecious (2 sexes) or hermaphroditic (snails)5. Specialized respiration in pulmonates (land snails)

Abalone Anatomy andReproduction

How do you sex an abalone?

FemaleMale

Female

MALE

Photo credit: Frank ODonnel

(radula)

Radula

BUILD AN ABALONE WORKSHOPKelpfest 2011

Abalone come to life!

24 Hours14-21 days1-3 months

Trocophore Larvae

Veliger Larvae

Post larval spat (settled/crawling)

The End