Abalones

a large mollusk of the genus Haliotis, having a bowllike shell bearing a row of respiratory holes, the flesh of which is used for food and the shell for ornament and as a source of mother-of-pearl.
Historical Examples

The rocks were full of abalones and my bag was soon filling rapidly.
Bert Wilson’s Twin Cylinder Racer J. W. Duffield

God willing, we shall eat Carmel mussels and abalones in May or June.
The Letters of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce

With love to Carrie, I will leave you to your sea-gardens and abalones.
The Letters of Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Bierce

From there it was only a stone’s throw to the beach where the mussels and abalones clung so thickly to the rocks.
El Diablo Brayton Norton

The abalones are as large as steaks, and a great deal tougher.
In the Footprints of the Padres Charles Warren Stoddard

It is so powerful, that the natives of the South Sea Islands use the abalones to catch sharks with.
Bert Wilson’s Twin Cylinder Racer J. W. Duffield

noun
any of various edible marine gastropod molluscs of the genus Haliotis, having an ear-shaped shell that is perforated with a row of respiratory holes. The shells are used for ornament or decoration Also called ear shell See also ormer
n.

type of marine shell, 1850, American English, from Spanish abulon from Costanoan (a California coastal Indian language family) aluan “red abalone.”