Geo 365: Oct. 23, Day 296: Abalone

I hadn't been into the Hatfield Marine Science Center in years, and I was pretty impressed. I think abalones are grazers, crawling along on hard, rocky substrates, eating algae growing on those surfaces. I had never seen live ones before, and even without the mother-of-pearl for which they're known visible, I thought they were quite beautiful.

There are many displays on various aspects of oceanography here, especially the biological and geological ones. I only took a few photos, and we sort of rushed through. The facility has a lot more than I recalled, and deserves more time than we had to give it that day.

Photo unmodified. May 6, 2013. FlashEarth location.