There is no authoritative statement on which brand of abalone is better.
Abalone is an animal of the genus Baofidae.
The outside of the abalone's body is covered with a thick calcareous shell. Its shell is a right-handed spiral shell. The single-walled shell of abalone is hard in texture, right-handed in shape, and has a dark green-brown surface. The purple, green, white and other colors on the inside of the shell complement each other, making it look like jewels.
In addition, abalone shells have a series of spirally arranged protrusions that gradually increase from the top of the shell to the ventral surface. Some of these protrusions near the ends of the whorls are pierced with holes, and the number of holes varies with the species. There are 4 to 5 Panda abalones distributed in northern my country, and 7 to 9 Variegated abalones distributed in the south. In ancient my country, abalone was named "nine-hole snail" because of its characteristics.
The soft body part has a wide and flat fleshy foot. The soft body is flat oval, yellow and white, the big one is like a tea bowl, and the small one is like a copper coin. Abalone relies on its thick feet and flat soles to cling to rocks and crawl in reef shelters and caves. The adhesion of abalone's fleshy feet is quite amazing. An abalone with a shell length of 15 centimeters has a suction power of up to 200 kilograms. No matter how strong winds and waves hit, they could not lift it. When catching abalone, you can only take advantage of its unpreparedness and use a shovel to shovel it down or overturn it at lightning speed, otherwise you will never be able to remove it even if you smash its shell.
The head of abalone is very developed, and its two tentacles are very thin and long when extended. There is a short protrusion on the dorsal side of the base of the antennae, and eyes grow on the ends of the protrusions. There is a head lobe between the two antennae. There is a kiss extending forward on the ventral surface of the head lobe, and there is a mouth at the front end of the kiss. There is a powerful radula in the mouth. The radula is a unique organ of many shellfish. It is a chitinous band with many rows of small teeth on it. It is shaped like a file. Shellfish use these small teeth to scrape and Grind food. Generally speaking, herbivorous species have a large number of small teeth with round apex, while carnivorous species have a small number of small teeth but are powerful and often have hooks or spines at the apex. Abalone is a herbivorous species, so its radula has a large number of small teeth.
The feet of abalone are particularly thick and divided into upper and lower parts. There are many antennae and hillocks on the upper feet, which are used to sense the external situation; the lower feet are oval-shaped when extended, with a flat belly, suitable for attachment and crawling. Eating abalone mainly involves eating the muscles of its feet.
The mantle of abalone has the same shape as a shell, covering the entire back of the body. What is different from other snails is that there is a crack on the right side of the mantle of abalone. The location of this crack is consistent with the hole on the edge of the shell. The position is quite similar, with tentacles growing on the edge of the crack. When the abalone moves, these tentacles extend from the shell holes to serve as tasters. Slits on the edge of the mantle are a characteristic of primitive gastropods, such as the sea snail, the famous red wengrong and the keyhole snail.
Abalone is a traditional precious ingredient in my country. Its meat is tender and rich in umami. It is one of the eight "sea delicacies" and is known as the "crown of seafood". It is an extremely precious seafood and is popular in the world. It has always enjoyed a good reputation in the market. Not only that, abalone is rich in nutrients and has extremely high medicinal value. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that abalone is neutral in nature, sweet and salty in taste, and can improve eyesight, nourish deficiency, clear away heat and nourish yin.