The green ormer (''Haliotis tuberculata'') is a northeast Atlantic and

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species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the a ...

, a

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is est ...

in the family Haliotidae, the abalones or ormer snails. The flesh of the green ormer is prized as a delicacy, and this has led to a decline in its population in some areas. Haliotis tuberculata 007

Taxonomy

''Haliotis barbouri'' Foster, 1946 is a synonym for ''Haliotis varia''. According to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) the following subspecies are recognized: * ''Haliotis tuberculata coccinea'' Reeve, 1846 (synonyms: ''Haliotis canariensis'' F. Nordsieck, 1975; ''Haliotis coccinea'' Reeve, 1846; ''Haliotis zealandica'' Reeve, 1846) * ''Haliotis tuberculata fernandesi'' Owen, Grace, & Afonso * ''Haliotis tuberculata marmorata'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Haliotis tuberculata tuberculata'' Linnaeus, 1758 (synonyms: ''Haliotis aquatilis'' Reeve, 1846; ''Haliotis incisa'' Reeve, 1846; ''Haliotis janus'' Reeve, 1846; ''Haliotis japonica'' Reeve, 1846; ''Haliotis lamellosa'' Lamarck, 1822; ''Haliotis lamellosa'' var. ''secernenda'' Monterosato, 1877; ''Haliotis lucida'' Requien, 1848; ''Haliotis pellucida'' von Salis, 1793; ''Haliotis reticulata'' Reeve, 1846; ''Haliotis rugosa'' Reeve, 1846 (invalid: junior homonym of ''Haliotis rugosa'' Lamarck, 1822); ''Haliotis striata'' Linnaeus, 1758; ''Haliotis tuberculata lamellosa'' Lamarck, 1822; ''Haliotis tuberculata'' var. ''bisundata'' Monterosato, 1884; ''Haliotis vulgaris'' da Costa, 1778) Haliotis tuberculata tuberculata

Shell description

The shell of this species grows as large as in length and in width. This flattened, oval shell is an ear-shaped spiral with a mottled outer surface. At the bottom margin of the shell, there is a curving row of five to seven slightly raised respiratory apertures, through which the

mantle A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that. Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear **Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...

extends with short, exhalant siphons. As the animal and the shell grow, new holes are formed and the older holes are sealed off. These holes collectively make up what is known as the

selenizone A selenizone (from the Greek "selene" meaning "moon", and "zone" meaning "girdle") is an anatomical structure that exists in the shells of some families of living sea snails: the slit shells, the little slit shells and the abalones, which are ...

, which forms as the shell grows. The inner surface of the shell has a thick layer of iridescent mother-of-pearl. The large and muscular foot has numerous tentacles at the ''epipodium'' (the lateral grooves between the foot and the mantle).

Distribution

This species occurs on rocky shores in European waters from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

as far north as the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

;Oliver, A.P.H. (2004). ''Guide to Seashells of the World.'' Buffalo: Firefly Books. 22. elsewhere in the Atlantic Ocean it occurs off the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

and

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...

Feeding habits

The green ormer grazes on

alga Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

e, especially

sea lettuce The sea lettuces comprise the genus ''Ulva'', a group of edible green algae that is widely distributed along the coasts of the world's oceans. The type species within the genus ''Ulva'' is ''Ulva lactuca'', wikt:lactuca, ''lactuca'' being Latin ...

. It breeds in summer, via external fertilisation.

Human use

In the Channel Islands

Ormers are considered a great delicacy in the British

. Overfishing has led to a dramatic depletion in numbers since the latter half of the 19th century. "Ormering" is now strictly regulated in order to preserve stocks. The gathering of ormers is now restricted to a number of "ormering tides", from January 1 to April 30, which occur on the full or new moon and two days following that. No ormers may be taken from the beach that are under 80 mm in shell length (90 mm in Jersey). Gatherers are not allowed to wear wetsuits or even put their heads underwater. Any breach of these laws is a criminal offence which can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 or six months in priso

The demand for ormers is such that they led to the world's first underwater arrest, when a Mr. Kempthorne-Leigh of Guernsey was illegally diving for ormers, and was arrested by a police officer in full diving gear.

References

* Geiger D.L. & Owen B. (2012) ''Abalone: Worldwide Haliotidae''. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. viii + 361 pp. 9 February 2012*

External links

*
British Marine Life Study Society site

Guernsey Fishing Guidelines
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1552190 tuberculata Commercial molluscs Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus