Whitefoot Paua

About this species

Haliotis virginea, common name virgin pāua, white-foot pāua, koio, or marapeka is a species of edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalone. It is endemic to New Zealand. Haliotis virginea is one of several New Zealand Haliotis species referred to as pāua, species valued for their meat, shell, and cultural significance.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Haliotis virginea”, 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: 29 records
February: 40 records
March: 21 records
April: 15 records
May: 10 records
June: 10 records
July: 14 records
August: 13 records
September: 12 records
October: 7 records
November: 17 records
December: 32 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–33 m · Deepest record: 722 m

0–10 m: 38 records
10–20 m: 8 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 2 records
70–80 m: 0 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 8–29 °C

6–8 °C: 19 records
8–10 °C: 17 records
10–12 °C: 26 records
12–14 °C: 17 records
14–16 °C: 7 records
16–18 °C: 15 records
18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Javier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Heidi Meudt, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Frank Ashwood, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Whitefoot Paua

Other scientific names: Haliotis (Paua) virginea, Haliotis crispata, Haliotis gibba, Haliotis huttoni, Haliotis marmorata, Haliotis subvirginea

Similar species

Blacklip abalone
Haliotis rubra
Silver abalone
Haliotis australis
Reddish-rayed Abalone
Haliotis coccoradiata
Circular ear shell
Haliotis cyclobates
Abalone
Haliotis iris
Greenlip Abalone
Haliotis 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).
497 open-data records from 1885 to 1996.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.