Staircase abalone
Haliotis scalaris
- Usual depth0–5 m
- Water temperature15–29 °C
- Best monthsJanuary, October, and December
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Jesse de Vries, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Haliotis scalaris, common name the staircase abalone or the ridged ear abalone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalone.SubspeciesHaliotis scalaris emmae Reeve, 1846 Haliotis scalaris scalaris (Leach, 1814)
Text from the Wikipedia article “Haliotis scalaris”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 376 records
- February: 254 records
- March: 180 records
- April: 117 records
- May: 178 records
- June: 115 records
- July: 276 records
- August: 294 records
- September: 324 records
- October: 326 records
- November: 245 records
- December: 407 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0–5 m · Deepest record: 13.7 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 15–29 °C
Photos
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Belinda Forbes, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) unmotivated_frog, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Staircase abalone, Ridged Ear Abalone, staircase abalone
Names in 2 more languages
- German
- Treppen-Abalone, Treppenhaus-Meerohr
- Japanese
- ミツウネアワビ
Other scientific names: Padollus scalaris
Similar species
Blacklip abaloneHaliotis rubra
Silver abaloneHaliotis australis
Reddish-rayed AbaloneHaliotis coccoradiata
Circular ear shellHaliotis cyclobates
AbaloneHaliotis iris
Greenlip AbaloneHaliotis laevigata
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).
- 527 open-data records from 1921 to 2014.
- Species data updated November 3, 2026.
Log what you see on your next dive
The free DiveHive diver app keeps your logbook with every sighting and shows what lives at the site you dive next.