In Reply to: Pinto? + posted by jlyle on February 27, 2006 at 15:18:15:

Well, I think Pinto is good enough since I’m not a purist and Threaded (Haliotis assimilis) is considered by some to be a subspecies of Pinto (Haliotis kamtschatkana) that in its “regular” form doesn’t come as far south as Los Angeles. http://www.abalone.net/guide/ab_id1.htm. See my reply to “Sheller” – very very few know more about S. California shells than he does and if he says it is a subspecies, that is good enough for me.

As for the picture, it was taken in my aquarium at home at a time I was working on a personal project related to transgenic abalone but that is another story... I actually was after the picture of the small Megathura – it is quite unusual to find them this size. Generally, I only pick up a camera underwater if someone drops it.