Abalone are a type of shellfish or mollusc. They have soft bodies and a hard shell in one piece to protect them. The shell is flat, rough on the outside and smooth on the inside so that it doesn’t hurt the abalone’s soft body. The largest part of the abalone’s body is the big sucker foot which it uses to hold itself tightly onto the rocks and reefs where it lives. Abalone live on reefs that also have pink coralline algae as this is their main source of food.

Western Australia waters have eleven different types (species) of abalone. The most common is the Roe’s abalone. Roe’s abalone was named after John Septimus Roe. Roe was a surveyor aboard the Mermaid on a voyage that charted the coastline and collected animal species of the north west of Western Australia. The captain, Phillip Parker-King, instructed J.E. Grey of the British Museum to name the abalone after Roe.

Female abalone release eggs into the water where they are fertilized by male abalone. Within two days the fertilized eggs develop into tiny larvae. The larvae then drift with the currents and feed and grow before they develop their shell. These larvae are called ‘spat’. The spat can be carried up to 50 kilometres by ocean currents before the small abalone settle in holes and crevices on reefs. This settling is called ‘spatfall’. As they grow the young abalone move to the outer, rough water sections of the reef where there is more food.

Scientific and other names
Roe’s abalone (Haliotis roei)
Greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata)
Brownlip abalone (Haliotis conicopora)

What they look like
The abalone body is mainly made up of a large foot that grips onto the reef and a hard shell that protects it from the rough surf. The Roe’s abalone shell is darkly coloured . The greenlip abalone has a smooth shell and the brownlip abalone has a conical shell. All have smooth shell on the inside to prevent hurting the soft flesh of the abalone.

Where they live
Abalone like to live on shallow parts of the reef where they can eat their favourite food - pink coralline algae. This algae has a coral-like hard outer covering that protects the algae from being damaged when washed against the reef. The algae can be found in the rough areas on the top of the reef. Abalone like the rough water because this is where the surf hits the reef, breaking off the algae and washing it over the abalone.

Roe’s abalone are found around the western and southern Australian coast from Shark Bay to Victoria. They are found mostly on the shallow limestone coastal reefs along the west coast, especially around Perth. Roe’s abalone can be caught around the Western Australian coastline as far north as Shark Bay.