Silver abalone

About this species

Haliotis australis, known by the common names queen pāua, yellowfoot pāua, silver pāua, or austral abalone, is a species of marine gastropod mollusk found in Aotearoa-New Zealand. They are edible, and often fished recreationally. Like all pāua, they are of cultural significance to the Māori, who know it by a number of names including hauwai, hihiwa, karahiwa, karariwha and korohiwa. Yellowfoot paua are harvested commercially, although not to the same extent as the blackfoot abalone.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Haliotis australis”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 59 records
February: 70 records
March: 52 records
April: 78 records
May: 38 records
June: 45 records
July: 40 records
August: 35 records
September: 41 records
October: 48 records
November: 62 records
December: 60 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–48 m · Deepest record: 123 m

0–10 m: 35 records
10–20 m: 8 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 8–26 °C

6–8 °C: 4 records
8–10 °C: 1 records
10–12 °C: 32 records
12–14 °C: 16 records
14–16 °C: 16 records
16–18 °C: 19 records
18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Mike Bowie, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Mike Bowie · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Christopher Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) John Barkla, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Silver abalone, Silver paua, Austral Abalone, Queen Paua, silver abalone, silver paua, yellow-foot abalone, Yellow-foot Paua, Yellowfoot Paua

Names in 2 more languages

German: Silberne Abalone, Silbernes Meerohr
Japanese: サザナミトコブシ

Other scientific names: Haliotis aleata, Haliotis costata, Haliotis rugosoplicata

Similar species

Blacklip abalone
Haliotis rubra
Reddish-rayed Abalone
Haliotis coccoradiata
Circular ear shell
Haliotis cyclobates
Abalone
Haliotis iris
Greenlip Abalone
Haliotis laevigata
Staircase abalone
Haliotis scalaris

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
506 open-data records from 1928 to 2012.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.