Wiktionary
paua
n. 1 A large, edible abalone, ''Haliotis iris'', native to New Zealand, whose shell is used to make jewelry. 2 The shell of this mollusc. 3 A fish hook made from this shell.
Wikipedia
Pāua
Pāua is the Māori name given to three species of large edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs which belong to the family Haliotidae (in which there is only one genus, Haliotis), known in the United States and Australia as abalone, and in the United Kingdom as ormer shells.
Usage examples of "paua".
Stretching, Padraic closed his book and put his pipe into the huge iridescent paua shell which served him as an ashtray.
Down came the tightly knotted golden hair, all its pins put into a paua shell on the bureau.