The Sand Dollar

For several weeks we had been trying to find some more sand dollars on the Cheltenham Beach.  Nothing in any of the written things that other senior missionaries had left for those that followed ever said anything about this beach having sand dollars. It seems like such a fluke to have found them. We went to Cheltenham two other times but the tide was too high even at low tide.  But we went again on Saturday and it was so low.  Tides are at their highest and lowest when it is a full moon.  And that is what it is and this is what we found...hundreds and hundreds of sand dollars!  The only problem is they were alive!

So here is a history of the sand dollar. They are part of the sea urchin family. They are covered with kind of velvet and have very short spines around the edge.  They have a mouth on the underside. They live in shallow water in the sand bottom. It was awesome. We could see where they had been moving across the sand. We could dig down only a quarter or a half inch and find them. We both looked and we both found!  The first picture here you can see where they are all just sitting there right under the sand. Every place there is a roundish lump there is a sand dollar!

I have one that shows the swirl paths that they leave when they move but you cannot tell with the ripples of the sand so I will leave that one out.  The next photo is a sand dollar that is still alive.  They are so pretty!

As soon as they die they lose their purple color and begin to turn grey. They are pretty neat looking.  I showed you photos of what they look like when they are dirty and before they are bleached. I just think they are so pretty.

While we were walking we found some other neat things to look at.  

Don't you think this is a pretty blue star fish?

Then we found the neatest....a star fish and a sand dollar together.  I did not do anything or move anything to set this next photo.  So cool!