Overview:  The Northern abalone, or pinto abalone, is a marine mollusc that is a member of the same class as snails (Gastropoda).  Its genus name, Haliotis, means "sea ear" and refers to the flattened shape of its shell.  To breathe, the abalone takes in water through the holes on the surface of its shell, filtering dissolved oxygen from the surrounding water with its gills.  Pintos are the smallest abalones, reaching no more than six inches in length.  They can be found clinging to rocks in thick kelp beds along open coastal environments that have good water circulation, between the low intertidal zone and 18m depth.  Unlike many snails, the abalone is completely vegetarian and uses its rough, file-like "tongue" to scrape pieces of algae from the surface of rocks.  Abalones, particularly the adults, will also ingest suspended algal particles and floating kelp fronds, taken in from the surrounding water.  Abalone larvae are free-swimming and use tiny hair-like cilia to propel themselves through the water.  After up to a week of surfing the currents, the larvae settle to the bottom, shed their cilia, start growing a shell and begin their more sedentary adult life.  Although female abalone may release millions of eggs at a time, the mortality rate of the larvae and young adults is extremely high.  Less than 1% of abalone offspring survive the many perils they must face to reach sexual maturity.  Rampant commercial overharvesting from 1975 to 1990 drastically reduced pinto abalone populations, to the extent that the harvesting of this species was banned over much of its range.  Widespread poaching, however, continues to pose a serious to recovering populations of northern abalone.  Although recreational harvest of pinto abalone within Washington was closed in 1994, the depleted abalone population in the San Juan Islands is believed to be the result of intensive, illegal commercial harvest.

Abalone were an important food source for Native Americans, who valued them for their beautiful irridescent inner shells as well as for nutritional purposes.  Abalone shells have been found at numerous inland sites, indicating their value for use in trade.  Today, abalones are increasingly being valued as an alternative to oysters in the cultured pearl industry.

Distribution: The Northern Abalone has a wide distribution along the Pacific coast, ranging from Baja California north to Sitka, Alaska, as well as along the shores of Japan.