Download Animalia- Mollusca

Species Name: Haliotis cracherodii
Common Name: “Black Abalone“
Animalia-Mollusca-Gastropoda
Number of Species in Category: 18
Habitat: Marine Intertidal
Assessment: Endangered
Supported commercial fisheries in the 1960’s. In the mid-80’s a wasting disease
“Withering Syndrome” reduced the commercial catch. Fishing of the abalone became
illegal in California but is still harvested in Mexico. At most surveyed locations where the
disease was present the populations were reduced by more than 80%. Adding to their
endangerment is that larvae do not disperse very far from their point of origin thus
depleted abalone populations are unlikely to be restored.
Ecology: Marine
H. cracherodii is a sessile marine gastropod. It clamps tightly to rocky substrates and feeds
on algal matter scraped from the rock surface. Gametes are released into the water where
fertilization occurs to produce free-swimming larvae.
Haliotis cracherodii (Black Abalone)
Conservation Plan:
The U.S. already has a conservation plan in place in California
where the harvesting of the species is illegal. The species is also
native to the Baja of California, Mexico and we suggest it
become illegal to fish the species there as well. We also believe a
small portion of the population should be bred in captivity in
case the population starts to decrease dramatically. Half of the
population bred in activity needs to be free of the withering
syndrome and the other half needs to have the disease. This
way we can do more research on withering syndrome, and
obtain a “clean” portion of the population that we can always
reintroduce into the wild.
http://www.intres.com/articles/meps/142/m142p185.pdf