Researchers See ‘Future of an Entire Species’ in Ultrasound Technique

To bring abalone back from the edge of extinction, scientists need to find improved ways of coaxing the snails into reproducing.

Kristin Aquilino, a scientist at the University of California, Davis, knows that expectations are just disappointments in disguise. Over the last decade, she has led the school’s white abalone captive breeding program, which aims to bring the marine mollusk back from the brink of extinction.

Last June, she and her colleagues drove snails kept in captivity at Davis down the California coast to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in Los Angeles. Others were dropped off at labs and aquariums around Southern California; all told, this was the largest spawning attempt of white abalone to date. But when she tried to get them in the mood with what she calls a love potion — a mix of seawater with hydrogen peroxide — the snails languished in their tanks occasionally emitting bubbles, but no eggs or sperm. After four hours, Dr. Aquilino called it off. (Simultaneous attempts at the other sites also failed.)

“It sucks,” she said. “There’s a lot of human effort involved, but there’s no way they’ll spawn today.”