The family is monotypic.
 

Shells small to large, ear-shaped, always flat; spire depressed; dorsal sculpture variable. Inside nacreous; presence of a flat, often large, columellar plate; aperture wide; often, a muscular print is visible. Instead of a slit like in Scissurellidae etc., the Abalones create a series of holes along the edge, using the younger for excretions, and plugging the older ones.