ABMAP
The Abalone Mapping Project

 

Current Topics

Haliotis patamakanthini Dekker, Regter & Gras, 2001 is H. ovina Gmelin, 1791.

A new abalone species from Thailand has recently been described and is already being marketed by some shell dealers and auction houses. The species is clearly a color form of H. ovina Gmelin, 1791. The resurrection of an old synonym of H. ovina —H. latilabris Philippi, 1848—is also mistaken. The specimens are certainly interesting color morphs that are also somewhat more flattened than normal H. ovina, however, these differences do not warrant taxonomic recognition. Shell shape is extremely plastic in the entire family Haliotidae; the suble differences cited by the authors are insufficient to justify the introduction of a new taxon. The morphological differences in the epipodium are well within the intraspecific variation of H. ovina.

 

Haliotis varia with double row of holes

Buzz Owen kindly send the picture below of two Haliotis varia with two rows of holes on the shell. This phenomenon is extremely rare, and so far unknown from that species.