''Haliotis squamosa'', common name the squamose abalone, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Haliotidae ''Haliotis'', common name abalone, is the only genus in the family Haliotidae. This genus once contained six subgenera. These subgenera have become alternate representations of ''Haliotis''. The genus consists of small to very large, edible, ...

, the

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

Description

The size of the shell varies between 40 mm and 90 mm. "The shell has an oblong-ovate shape, transversely obliquely wrinkled and spirally tubularly ribbed. The tubercles are scale-like. The ribs are sometimes close, sometimes with a fine ridge running between them. The seven, open perforations are rather large. The exterior is spotted and variegated with yellow and orange-brown. The interior surface is whitish and iridescent. This is an extremely interesting species, well characterized by its close ribs of scale-like tubercles, ranging across the shell in oblique waves. In the middle portion of the shell there is a fine ridge running between the ribs. The color is also peculiar, a kind of burnt-umberstained orange."H.A. Pilsbry (1890) Manual of Conchology XII; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1890
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Indian Ocean off southern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Gray erroneously described the species to occur off Australia.

References

* Gray, Appendix to King's Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia ii, p. 494, 1826. * Geiger D.L. & Owen B. (2012) Abalone: Worldwide Haliotidae. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. viii + 361 pp. 9 February 2012page(s): 129

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5642452 squamosa Gastropods described in 1826