DESCRIPTION

BUY 10 LIVE ABALONE, RECEIVE 1 FOR FREE!

This legendary seafood delicacy is shipped live in the shell. American Abalone raises the highest quality naturally grown California red abalone–an excellent choice for environmentally conscious seafood lovers. The abalone meat should be removed from the shell the same day they are received. After the meat is removed from the shell, it will remain fresh in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.

Our oceanfront farm within the pristine waters of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary provides an ideal environment for raising abalone. This rural stretch of California coast supplies cool, clean seawater for our land-based operation; we operate seawater pumps that continuously provide fresh seawater to the abalone that are grown inside of seawater tanks. The abalone are fed various types of seaweed and grown in a very natural manner, under the care of marine biologist Tom Ebert.

Handling Instructions
American Abalone ships its live red abalone in environment-controlled containers made of thick Styrofoam. An outer cardboard shell may also be used for additional durability. The temperature inside the container is maintained at approximately ten degrees Celsius (10 C) through the use of frozen liquid gel packs. The abalone are layered on moist foam sheets inside a sealed oxygen filled plastic bag.

Excellent conditions are maintained as long as both the box and interior bag are not opened. Opening the box dramatically changes the temperature, and opening the bag releases the oxygen that is essential to the abalone’s ability to breathe out of seawater. The abalone will stay alive, out of seawater, inside the shipping box/bag for ~ 35 to 40 hours if the shipping materials are not opened. The abalone should be removed from the shipping container and placed into a saltwater tank as soon as possible after arrival to minimize the time needed for the abalone’s recovery from shipping stress. The seawater holding tanks should have a seawater temperature of 10 to 15 degrees celsius. After the abalone recovers from shipping stress (usually 1 to 3 days) the temperature range can be 10 to 20 C and salinity can be 30 to 35 ppt. For recovery and holding tanks, it is best to maintain the salinity about 30 to 32 ppt, if possible. The abalone can handle lower salinity (27 to 29 ppt), but will die in higher salinity (37 ppt).

Vigorous aeration is very important for the abalone’s health. When the abalone is first placed into the holding tanks, place the meat side down (shell side up) with a lower amount of aeration (so the abalone are not tumbled in the tanks). After the abalone is tightly attached to the tanks, the aeration should be increased if possible. Excellent water quality is very important for the abalone’s recovery after shipping; never put newly arriving abalone (stressed from shipping) into seawater tanks that previously held other live plants or animals. The temperature and stress of shipping the abalone out of seawater will make the abalone appear very inactive (may sometimes look dead) upon arrival and it may take a few hours to 24 hours before the abalone starts behaving normally. The abalone typically loses 10 to 15% of its body weight (fluid loss) during shipping. The abalone will recover this weight within a few days after arrival if it is placed into seawater tanks with good conditions (described above).

INGREDIENTS

live California red abalone