The first time I held a white abalone, its muscular foot pressed into my palm, its shell lifted, and two googly black eyes and flexible tentacles emerged. But even more remarkable than the endearing appearance of this iconic sea snail is its survival.

In the 1960s and ’70s,  white abalone—prized for their tender meat and iridescent mother-of-pearl shells—were overfished almost to extinction. Today, there are more  in captivity than in their home waters off the coast of Baja. But a sudden cutoff of federal funding to the keystone breeding program has put this mollusk  at risk—again.