Haliotis varia

Haliotis varia, common name the variable abalone or the common ear shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalones.^[3][4][5]

Haliotis varia
Five views of a shell of Haliotis varia
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Vetigastropoda
Order:	Lepetellida
Superfamily:	Haliotoidea
Family:	Haliotidae
Genus:	Haliotis
Species:	H. varia
Binomial name
Haliotis varia Linnaeus, 1758[2]
Synonyms[3]
Haliotis astricta Reeve, 1846 Haliotis concinna Reeve, 1846 Haliotis dohrniana Dunker, 1863 Haliotis dringii Reeve, 1846 Haliotis gemma Reeve, 1846 Haliotis granulata Röding, 1798 Haliotis papulata Reeve, 1846 Haliotis pustulifera Pilsbry, 1890 Haliotis semistriata Reeve, 1846 Haliotis scutulum Reeve, 1846 Haliotis viridis Reeve, 1846 Sanhaliotis aliena Iredale, 1929

Shell of Haliotis varia

Description

The size of the shell varies between 22 mm and 70 mm. It is shiny and the colour varies from something like mother of pearl to pink to red to gray to blue.

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Red Sea and in the Indo-West Pacific, off Tanzania, Mauritius and in the Mascarene Basin. It further occurs in the Western Pacific, from Sri Lanka to Tonga and off Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia)

Records from East Africa and India are questionable according to Geiger & Poppe, 2000