Abalone Feeding Habits

Abalone

Introduction: Abalones are marine gastropod mollusc of the family Haliotidae and the genus haliotis, which means sea ear, referring to the flattened shape of their shell.Being a gastropod mollusk, abalones are characterized by one shell.Several abalone species have been identified of present or potential economic value whether for capture fishery, stock enhancement or aquaculture. These include red abalone (Haliotis rufescens), green abalone (Haliotis fulgens), Japanese abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) and Omani abalone (Haliotis mariae). Abalone has a worldwide distribution; with some exceptions, they occur along the coastal waters of every continent.

According to FAO statistics, the world production of all abalone species amounted

They have well-developed and symmetrical gills over which drawn water flows. The flow of water carries the waste and reproductive products.

Movement: Although abalones occur in the same place, they may use their muscular foot with its suction power to move, cling and stay tight with the substrate surfaces.

Feeding habits: In nature, abalone eats marine algae with a particular preference to large brown algae such as giant kelp and other kelp species. While juvenile abalone grazes for algae, diatoms and bacterial films, adults rely on drift algae, and if food becomes scares, they move after their food.

Under farming conditions where most of abalones are produced, the macroalgae are the main abalone feed.However, many abalone farms use successfully high quality manufactured feed which has been found healthy and efficient in the production of high-quality

In some parts of the world, abalone has been considered a luxury food and served in special occasions such as weddings. Depending on cultures and preferences, abalone may be consumed live and raw, used in sushi, or served steamed, salted, boiled, or chopped.

Capture fishery: The high value abalone fishery used to be the main production system supporting the livelihood of many fishermen especially in Asia. Because of variety of reasons, abalone world fishery witnessed a considerable decline from 16,800 tons in 1980 to around 7,200 tons in 2015.

Abalone aquaculture:According to FAO statistics, abalone farming was in the early phase during the 1980s whereas their world aquaculture produced only 228 tons in 1980. Afterwards, the production from farmed abalone steadily increase reaching 128,196 and 141,871 tons in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Some of the abalone farms use cages located in the ocean while others use land-based large tanks. In the present, red abalone is the key farmed abalone with a minor contribution from green