abalone
鮑 centers on the sea creature abalone, a type of edible marine snail with a single shell.
鮑 combines 魚 (fish) with 包, which likely contributes the sound. The character specifically refers to abalone, a shellfish often grouped with fish in traditional classification.
The left side is a fish 魚, and the right side 包 looks like a wrapped package. Imagine a fish-like creature wrapped in a single shell: that's an abalone.
For ホ, picture a whole abalone shell: whole -> ホ, and the shell wraps the creature inside like a package.