Abalone - Pacific Region

Web Clips

All the footage was taken during a survey in Haida Gwaii ( Queen Charlotte Islands), May 2002. The survey was a collaboration between the Haida Fisheries Program and DFO. You will need Quicktime to view these video clips. Download Quicktime. Please note that the video clips will take a few seconds to load, depending on your computer and the size of the video clip.

• Abalone Up Close
• Abalone Moving
• Surveying an Abalone Condo
• Tagging Abalone
• Red Sea Urchins Escape
  

Abalone Up Close

A close up of an abalone. The tentacles and respiratory holes can be seen. Click on image at left to view Quicktime movie (1.3 MB).

Abalone Moving

An abalone, as divers see it underwater, moving from one boulder to another. When trying to escape from a sunflower starfish, (see 'Red sea urchin escape' video below), abalone can move faster than what is shown in this clip. Click on image at left to view Quicktime movie (16.7 MB).

Surveying an Abalone Condo

Abalone condos are made from crab traps filled with cut up concrete blocks. Haida Fisheries Program biologist and divers modified the original design from Gary Davis in California (Davis, G. E. 1995. Recruitment of juvenile abalone (Haliotis spp.) measured in artificial habitats. Marine and Freshwater Research 46: 549-554) to provide artificial habitat for juvenile abalone. The video demonstrates how each condo is surveyed.
Click on image at right to view Quicktime movie (2.9 MB).

Tagging Abalone

This clip demonstrates how abalone are tagged with a numbered plastic disk. Once put back into the ocean, each tagged abalone can be individually identified and we can monitor its movement and growth. Click on image at right to view Quicktime movie (11 MB).

Red Sea Urchin Escape

This clips shows red sea urchins trying to escape from a sunflower starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides). The first 10 seconds of the clip are at normal speed; the video is then accelerated to show the urchins trying to move away. The sunflower starfish is probably the major predator of abalone. Abalone also flee the sunflower starfish at a speed faster than the urchins. Click on image at left to view Quicktime movie (1.6 MB).