Sand Dollar
Money, Money, Money
It will cost you four sand dollars plus a cowry. Not a Sponge Bob scene with a crusty burger, but rather a look at ancient currency (without the sand dollars). Shells like cowry, olive sea snails, clams, and tusk shells were commonly used as money, but not the sand dollar.
These members of the sea urchin family got their names from their resemblance to dollar coins of America and Spain. Also known as sand cakes, snapper biscuits, sea cookies, cake urchins and pansy shells, these creatures are very fascinating.
Below, you can see the perspective was on the level of the sand focusing on the sea foam and sand dollar with the sun setting on the blue ocean blurred in the background. I shot this image with an f-stop at 6.3, a shutter speed of 1/640 and ISO at 250. I was lucky to have the sun’s reflection in front on the sand light up the face of the sand dollar even though the main light was from behind. I’m always chasing that light.
Sand Dollar Details
Undeniably cool little creatures, sand dollars scurry across the ocean floor using little spines that line the bottom of their bodies. During calm days, while hanging out, sand dollars stand on end by burying themselves in the sand. On rougher sea days, they lie flat or burrow under the sand.
As shown below, this image’s settings are an f-stop of 5.6, a shutter speed of 1/1250, and an ISO of 250. I love the bokeh effect of the sun and ocean in the background, but you can see the face of the sand dollar is darker without the wave of water in the foreground.
Fun facts:
A sand dollar has a mouth. Think about that for a second and add in 5 teeth-like sections that help to grind up its food. They eat phytoplankton, algae and zooplankton like crustaceans or fish larvae. Bizarre little creatures.
Photo by unknown
One can tell their age by counting the rings on their exoskeleton – kind of like the rings of a tree. Their life span is anywhere from 6-10 years.
They like to hang out together. Clusters of as many as 600 have been found living in one square yard of ocean floor – the sea’s answer to a mosh pit.
Rarely have I found full sea dollars on the beach at Manzanita. Usually they are in pieces broken up by the waves crashing on the shore. On the occasions I have found a whole one, they were alive and I helped them back to the sea. The one’s pictured here were not alive – no live sand dollars were harmed in the taking of these images.
As always, my images are available for purchase. Take a stroll through the gallery and let me know what you like.
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