Bodega Marine Lab

Bodega Marine Lab

Bringing an Endangered Sea Snail Back from the Brink

Mar 20, 2026 | Abalone, Animals, Bodega Marine Lab, Ecology, Marine science, Ocean Life, Oceans, UCDavis

On a sunny January afternoon in Bodega Bay, some 70 miles north of San Francisco, the White Abalone Culture Lab is humming with activity.

It’s spawning day. Alyssa Frederick, the lab’s program director, invites me into an industrial room full of troughs and tubs of bubbling seawater. The abalone program is tucked away in the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, a research facility devoted to studying ocean and coastal health. The goal is to bring the endangered sea snails, known for their iridescent shells and delicate meat, back from the brink.

The Secret Life of Mudflats

Oct 31, 2025 | Adventures, Animals, Bodega Marine Lab, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Marine science, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors

Mud sucks—literally. On land, it squishes underfoot and slimes your shoes. In seaside shallows, it clutches your feet and tugs with the ferocity of an angry alligator.

I know. Wading back to shore after fieldwork with Bodega Marine Lab scientists in Tomales Bay, I lost my balance and plunged into what felt like slow-hardening concrete. Every time I tried to pry my foot loose, I lurched back into the sludge. A graduate student reached out to help—only to skid into the ooze next to me.

Saving White Abalone–Again

Aug 8, 2025 | Abalone, Animals, Bodega Marine Lab, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Marine science, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors, UCDavis

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.