The colors of the sky...

  

...in a shell!  

Two close-ups of the inside of an abalone shell.  

I thought the first one (above) looked like an aurora, while the second (below) was more like a sunset.

[You can click on them for larger versions.] 

 

 

 

 Photographed in Monterey County on 6 June 2026.   

Layers

   

Close-up of a Red Abalone (Haliotus rufescens) shell, 9 September 2025

ADDENDUM (12 September 2025): There were a couple of requests to show more of the abalone shell.  In this case, the original photo was just a section of the rim of a shell, but here's the photo without any cropping:

 

  

P.S.  Note that I've found that the lighting matters a lot when photographing abalone iridescence.  Overcast days bring out the colors the most. 

Looking out

  

 The eye of an abalone (the dark spot at the base of the tentacle).  

What do they see? 

ADDENDUM (9 July 2024): P.S.  I've received some questions about where the eye is exactly, so here's the same photo with the eye circled:

So egg-citing!

  

So cool!  This is a female Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) spawning.

We had to work a little late tonight, but it paid off because just before we were getting ready to leave, Eric noticed that a few sea stars were spawning in one of the tanks at the lab!

It's possible they were triggered by the recent change in the weather.  When the NW winds are strong, seawater temperatures are usually cool; then when the winds calm down, seawater temperatures often rise.  Yesterday the seawater temperature was 9°C (48°F), but it increased to 13°C (55°F) today. 

Here's an even closer view where you can see a large number of eggs being released through pores in the surface of the sea star:

 

 

Some of the eggs gathered on a piece of kelp below:

 

 

 

 

We were curious about whether other animals might also be triggered to spawn, so we checked another nearby tank and...voilà!

 

 

 

This is a male Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens) releasing sperm.  The raised pores in the shell act like little volcanoes when the abalone is spawning:

 

 

 

 

 

We don't get to see sea stars and abalone spawning that often, so it was a fun way to end the day!

 

Shell trio

Not much time tonight...we just got home from a class field trip to Monterey.  But here's a quick image from a beach in Pacific Grove today (10 March 2018), thanks to Eric's sharp eyes:

 

 

From the left to right: Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens), California Trivia (Trivia californiana), California Cone Snail (Conus californicus)

Ultra Violet mystery

On 7 and 8 December 2017, I showed two mystery photos:

 

 

If you guessed that this is a type of crustacean (i.e., the group that contains crab, lobster, and shrimp, among other animals), you are correct.  So the next question is, what type of crustacean?

Here's another close-up, revealing a bit more. This animal was ~2.5 cm long.

 

Meet Betaeus harfordi!   This is a shrimp in a group that is sometimes referred to as "hooded shrimps."  In the second close-up (above), and in the photos below, you can see that the carapace extends up and over and slightly in front of the eyes.

Older summaries about this species describe it as dark purple, blue-black, or deep blue.  The first individual we photographed (above) showed strong purple coloration, but we also looked at a second individual that tended towards the blue side:

 

Here are the two together so you can compare the colors.  [The photographs below were taken outdoors in natural light, rather than indoors in the lab.]

 

Betaeus harfordi has an interesting life history.  This shrimp has an obligate association with abalone.  It lives in the mantle cavity of abalone along the West Coast (all eight species).

A shrimp leaves the shelter of the abalone to feed at night, but then returns to its host during the day.  (Interestingly, a shrimp can sense the presence and location of its abalone host chemically!) 

Here are two more photos.  Note the "hood" over the eyes and the interesting claws (with the movable portion of the claw at the bottom):

 

 

Many thanks to our colleagues who study abalone for sharing these fascinating symbiotic shrimp!

P.S.  The "harfordi" part of the scientific name refers to William G.W. Harford, director of the California Academy of Sciences from 1876-1886.