Hi Nora,
The name "Pulcharis abalone", like many common names, really isn't very
helpful. It is not a name in common usage. As Art pointed out, the name
resembles "pulcherrima", which is a valid species, but that species is rather
uncommon, and your specimen is about twice the normal size of that species.
I'd never trust any identification on a shell that came from a gift shop
anyway (unless of course the owners are real conchologists, but in that case I
would expect the shell to have a scientific name attached). At 2 inches, and
bought in a gift shop, I would suspect that you might have one of the common
small Philippines species like glabra, planata, or ovina, but obviously I
can't say anything for sure from your description. Juvenile abalone don't
differ much from the adults of the same species except in size, as far as I
know.
Regards,
Paul M.
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