sea opal..

or abalone goes by a number of other names. Pāua in New Zealand, ormer shell in the UK and the very glamorous! muttonfish in Aus.

An edible sea snail the meat is prized as a delicacy (gorgeous when cooked by someone who knows how and like an old boot when not) and the iridescent shell is used in traditional and contemporary arts and crafts.
' Pāua are frequently used to represent the eyes in Māori carvings and traditionally are associated with the stars or whetū, the symbolic eyes of ancestors that gaze down from the night sky.'