Sanibel Island, FL Dec. 16, 2009 I found this seastar in the water of a tidepool, I took it out long enough to photograph it, then returned it to the water.
Sanibel Island, FL Dec. 15, 2009 This little sea star was only about 2" across. I always pitched the animals I thought might still be alive back into the surf in hopes they would make it another day. Live animals should never be removed from the beach, not only because they will die out of their natural environment, but they also stink to high heaven later on!!! I have seen stacks of sand dollars left on the beach or on picnic tables that people have removed from the water only to find out they reek before the people leave for the day. What a shame to kill the animals and then just leave them to rot.
Empty Sand Dollar shells, called tests, wash up on the beach. They are often broken, so we were amazed to see many of them in one area. This is a true Sand Dollar, it does not have the 5 holes found in Key Hole Urchins. These echinoderms are related to sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and sea stars (a.k.a. "starfish"). The "doves" found in the inside of sand dollars are actually their "teeth"! Inside the living animal, they are arranged in the shape of a star in an organ called "Aristotle's Lantern". The live animals have a grayish-brown fuzz on the outside of the shell. The "flower" shape on the top of the test where the animals breathes. The little lines (channels) on the under side of the test funnel to a hole in the center, the mouth. Tiny feet move small pieces of food along these channels to the mouth. A second, smaller hole at the edge of the shell is the anus. The living animals should never be collected and removed from the water, dead urchins stink! I've seen stacks of dead urchins left on picnic tables at eastern beaches because parents wouldn't let their kids take them. I don't buy shells from shell shops, most likely the animals were taken from the ocean alive and then killed, "perfect" seashells are seldom found on the beach.
