Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sand Dollars (2024)

FAQs

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sand Dollars? ›

Sand dollars are related to sea stars and sea urchins. These creatures are bottom-dwellers that feed on microscopic algae and bacteria on the ocean's floor. They have an average lifespan of about ten years and play an important part in the marine ecosystem.

Cool facts

Sometimes a sand dollar "chews" its food for 15 minutes before swallowing. It can take two days for the food to be digested. Scientists can age a sand dollar by counting the growth rings on the plates of the exoskeleton. Sand dollars usually live six to 10 years.

Your best bet for finding sand dollars are in the minutes directly before and after low tide. This is when the ocean pulls back and extends the beach area. For the ultimate low tide times, hit a beach when the calendar shows a full or new moon. Most people prefer looking for shells during morning low tides.

Sand dollars can't survive out of the water, so if you find a live one, put it gently back in the water. If you find a sand dollar on the beach, it is probably no longer alive and it is ok to take. Even sand dollars that look grey or tan in color are dead if they have no tiny coating of furry spines on them.

In addition to their religious symbolism, Sand Dollar represents wealth and abundance. Their delicate, intricately patterned shells are considered lucky finds. Overall, they signify transformation, rebirth, prosperity, spiritual growth, and awakening.

However, it wasn't until 65 million years ago that true sand dollars appeared, during the Paleocene, or the first epoch of the “Age of Mammals” in the Cenozoic Era. Sand dollars have done well, with 250 living species.

The mythological legend of the Sand Dollar claims they represent coins lost by mermaids or the people of Atlantis, the mythical city that sank below the ocean millennia ago. To beachcombers of the past, Sand Dollars suggest a large, silver coin, such as the old Spanish or American dollar.

The best time to look for sand dollars is a low tide. Walk along the area near the high-tide line and look for round patches or what looks like depressions in the sand. When you find a sand dollar, make sure it isn't alive before you take it. In many states, it is illegal to take a living sand dollar.

The common sand dollar is found in the Northern Hemisphere in temperate and tropical waters. On a good day at Ocean Isle, Sunset or Holden Beach, you might find many sand dollars ranging in size from one to approximately four inches in diameter.

Intact sand dollar exoskeletons are best found in the spring and summer, as ocean conditions from offshore storms in the fall and winter often break them up before they wash ashore. “The best way to find a sand dollar is to go out about an hour before low tide,” Boothe says.

Should you throw sand dollars back? ›

Sand dollars can't survive out of the water for more than a few minutes. If you find a live one, return it to its home by placing it gently on the sea floor, so it can continue to play its important role in Sanibel's ecosystem. These dead sand dollars have been bleached by the sun and are fine to take home and enjoy.

But if one is found and simply must be kept, be 100 percent sure that it is no longer a living being and the sand dollar's body is actually dead. In most states taking a live sand dollar is illegal, but laws vary about collecting a deceased sand dollar, so check for signs at the beach or ask an employee.

While sand dollars can emit a harmless yellow material called echinochrome, the sand dollars are absolutely not poisonous and you can touch them without fear whether they are alive or dead. Alive sand dollars should be put back in the water, though, and left alone.

What are the doves inside a sand Dollar? Five dove-shaped pieces emerge every time you open one of these creatures. Doves represent peace and love. They release goodwill and peace into the world.

Check out the color. Live sand dollars don't look like those perfectly white "shells" you see in gift shops. The living creatures are much darker, usually somewhere between brown and purple. The white sand dollars you find are actually their skeletons, called tests.

Because these pieces resemble birds or more specifically, doves, people have often associated both the sand dollar and its doves as a symbol of peace. Some people believe that by breaking open the sand dollar and releasing the doves, they are also releasing peace into the world.

The sun-bleached shells will be extremely fragile and will crumble or break easily. If appropriately preserved, Sand Dollars will last a long time. To preserve the sand dollars that you bring home, rinse them several times in fresh water, then soak them for 15 minutes in a water/bleach solution.

Common name

The term "sand dollar" derives from the appearance of the tests (skeletons) of dead individuals after being washed ashore. The test lacks its velvet-like skin of spines and has often been bleached white by sunlight.

Currently the largest recorded sand dollar is 14.8 centimeters (5.8 inches), which was found on Holmes Beach in 2011, according to Guinness World Records.

Sand dollars move on those spines and tube feet on the sandy bottom where they live from the low intertidal to about 130 feet. They can bury themselves completely to escape predators. Watch here: Sand dollars also use their tube feet feed to sift sand for algae, diatoms and bacteria to eat.