Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-17
PACIFIC ABAL0NES
important Marine Industry on
California Coast.
FAMILY OF SEA SNAILS
Divers Gather Them on Ocean Bot.
tom-Preparing Them
for Market.

4
The abalone belongs to a family of
marine snails. the haliotidae, which
has many representatives in the waters
about Africa. India, Japan and the
| neighboring islands. Six species and
one variety have been described from
| the Pacific coast Of North America. but
none from the Atlantic coast. Under
| the name Of ormers. sea-ears or ear
| shells. this gastropod occurs on the
| coast Of France and among the Chan
| mel Islands. but the species are most
abundant in tropical and semi-tropi-
cal regions.
The abalone is of Importance because
| OF its beautiful shell. polished as an
ornament, or manufactured into many
kinds Of novelties and jewelry. Clean
ing with the iridescence of the rain
bow and the aurora, this lovely shell is
nj to be the chalice of Eos. Pearls
may be secreted around foreign par
ticleS accidentally. or designedly, in
troduced between the mantle and the
nacreous layer of the shell. The mol
lusk pholadidea may bore through the
blister pearl, or we may bring about
the same result by inserting pre-
pared form. Then the meat, either
fresh or dried. is of much food value.
In the commercial fishery of abalones
one or more crews are employed, gen
orally made up of Japanese, but some
times OF Chinese or American fisher
| MEN. The boat containing a crew is
either rowed or driven by motor from
the camp to the fishing grounds. The
crew consists of the diver and his six
assistants. When over the right bot
tom the diver is clothed with bis suit.
the helmet screwed upon the brass col
lar. the heavy lead breast and back
4 afsy1,f Il
manned. One man takes the divers
| signal rope. another the hose from the
air pump. and the diver, with net at
tached to a rope and his shocking
chisel in hand, is assisted over the
| side. climbs down the short ladder and
| drops through the water to the bot
| tom. IL he finds the abalones plenti-
| full work is continued in depths of
| from twenty to siXty-five feet, in four
| hour shifts. The man on the boat with
| the signal rope in hand follows the
course of the diver by the constant
! stream of air bubbles rising 10 the
surface. When the kelp is thick one
man has knife on long pole. with
which he cuts the sea weed and keeps
.he air tube clear.
! The diver finds it an easy task to de-
tach the abalone from the rock if he
pushes the shucking-chisel under the
expanded foot before the animal is
alarmed If, however. the diver hest
tates and the abalone contracts its
muscular foot a powerful pressure is
exerted. One or two cases have been
reported of the drowning of Chinese
fishermen who have had their hands
caught by the abalone and thus held
until overcome by the rising tide. The
diver secures a net full of abalones.
gives the signal and the mollusks are
hoisted aboard and slowed below. The
corrugated abalones. may be hauled up
every six or seven minutes. During
his shift below the diver gathers from
thirty to forty basketfuls, each con-
| tanning 100 pounds of meat and she'll.
or altogether one and one-half to two
| tons.
Down Reinforcement.
At Santa Catalina Island and later at
San Clemente Island. in company with
a Japanese diver. l donned diving
dress for submarine exploration. On
one occasion the assistant failed to
tighten the waistbelt. which is DE-
signed to keep the air in the upper
part of the diving dress. The men at
the pump worked with especial assidu-
ity and as 1 dropped off the ladder the
inflated rubber trousers turned my
| feet uppernost. Head down / went
| through sixty-five feet of water and
| then, not in position for quiet re-
| Election, remained some moments be-
fore the Japanese assistants conclud-
ed that my signals were not being
made just for the fun of it, After be-
ing pulled to the surface, reversed and
relieved of inferior imitation. sue
cessful descent was made. The
submarine journey is wonderful
experience. The bottom of the sea
seems made of grains Of gold and silver.
shimmering in the penetrating sunlight.
Upon the face of a precipice. large speci-
mems of the green and corrugated aba
lones rest. The shell Of each is covered
! with a luXuriant growth of algae, hy-
droids and tentacled tube-Worms. which
mask the creature from it's enemies All
about are large fish which swim close
| and peer through the glass window of
the helmet. An enormous sting-ray in
differently floats by. One has a fellow
feeling for these unfrighted deniZens of
the deep in the fascination of observing
| their behavior under natural conditions.
In gathering abaones sometimes crew
| is composed of six divers. who work
| without suits up to depth of twenty
feet. and some of them remain under
| water for as long az two minutes These
expert swimmers protect their eyes with
glasses and wear cotton in their ears
| They pry off the abalones with q shuc!-
ing chisel. often filling their arms on the
way to the boat. Every two hours they
| return to the launch to be warmed at
the lire. 1t takes the united efforts OF
these six men to equal the catch Of one
| diver in q suit.
| The abalone has d well-developed head
and powerful, adhesive creeping foot.
The shell is fiattened. and the spire
| which is such a prominent conical struc-
ture III most snail shells. is depressed
and inconspicuous in this form. The
/ last greatly enlarged whorl contains the
| body. especially characterized by the
! enormous columellar muscle. whose fibers
, run from their origin upon the muscle
scar, or center of the shell, into the foot
| Numerous contractile tentacles arise from
! the fringed epipodial fold, or ruff around
the base of the foot. The gilIs, ali
mentary syste \, reproductive glands. kid
| neys. heart and blood vessels and the
| pailial and visceral sections of the nerv-
Gus system lie to the lett of and behind
the columellar muscle and foot. From
the. mouth cavity the gullet leads back
| ward TO the enlarged stomach. which is
divided into two compartments, and re.
ceives the digestive Juices from the large
digestive gland at the hind end of the
body. Two pairs Of salivary glands pour
| their secretfOnS into the buccal cavity
The intestine runs anterioriy to the side
| of the head, there turns on itself and
| proceeds back to the stomach where it
again goes forward. passing through the
ventricle of the heart. to terminate in
the anus. which opens into the gill
| cavity. The shell is perforated toward
the left. by a series Of openings lying
| above a slit in the mantle fold leading
into the gill cavity, whence issues a
stream bearing the excrement respira-
!, tory and excretory wastes. Three ten
| tacular processes from the edges Of the
mantle cleft project through these holes
/ AS the animal grows the apertures in the
/ shell behind the respiratory cavity are
| closed up and new ones are formed at the
| anterior edge.
/ The head terminates In a short Snoi,t