There is a locked door with a sign that says authorized personnel only.
She says, "You're about to enter a room that has more white abalone than exist in the ocean, which is frightening and an incredible opportunity to save them."
The white abalone captive breeding program is run by Aquilino.
She manages a fertility clinic, spa and nursery for sea snails.
This was not what Aquilino wanted to be when he was a kid. She was a graduate student when she first arrived in California. She was able to learn quickly.
White Abalone became the first marine invertebrate to be listed as extinct when it was added to the list in 2001. White Abalone have bad luck being known as the most tender and delicious, and in the 70s they were almost extinct.
Diving for wild Abalone is not allowed in California today. Aquilino and her team have been trying to get enough animals into the ocean to get the species off the list.
As a kid, Aquilino didn't think he'd be in charge of saving a sea snail.
The abalone in her lab range from small to large. The smallest hatchlings in the "juvenile culture rack" are about the size of a small piece of ice cream.
It takes two to four years in the lab for the baby abalone to be ready to swim. The 21-year-olds that were spawned during the first year of the program are in a different tank.
The 10 biggest animals in the lab are now larger than a softball. Aquilino says they are some of her most prolific spawners. She pointed to the side of the tank.
She says there is a special animal in the room. She's one of the animals that's spawned the most. She has created 20 million eggs. Our hope is to get all of these animals to make a lot of offspring.
The researchers are trying to convince the animals to give birth.
It's a really romantic process to slice white abalone. They were put in their own buckets. We put a love Potion of hydrogen peroxide in those buckets and Barry White in them.
Barry White's song "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" has been played in the lab by the researchers. Why wouldn't you? It was not able to hurt.
She thinks that the scientists need to be happy as well.
The lab is located at the core of the ocean upwelling, which is what makes it different from other labs.
One part of the world where the water is cold and rich in vitamins is California. In southwestern Africa, as well as northwestern Africa into southern Europe, and all along the west coast of South and North America, it occurs.
All of those regions have the same qualities.
He says that they're all characterized by bounteous fish, big birds, sharks, whales and good wine.
It will take some time to bring abalone back from the brink of extinction. She thinks the lab needs to triple the number of white Abalone they create.
She says it will likely take decades to create self-sustaining populations in the wild. If we can keep putting animals in the same place for a long time, the hope is that we can create self-sustaining populations.
More animals are being produced than the lab can hold.
As she prepares to leave the lab, Aquilino gets a text from the hatchery manager at the farm she works at. There are two pictures of troughs overflowing with her animals ready to try their luck in the open ocean.
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