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Contraryto popular belief, Sand Dollars are not shells/molluscs. They have the appearance of a shell because of their outer carbon-carbonate skeleton.
They are actually living animals classed as echinoderms. Which is the same class as sea urchins and starfish.
If you've strolled along a beach in Maine, you've probably found a sand dollar. But what is a sand dollar? Children have been known to say that sand dollars are pressed sand that has been dried or even the money of mermaids washed-up from the deep. In reality, the fragile disk is the skeleton or "test" of a marine animal. By the time the test washes up on the beach it is missing its velvety covering of minute spines and appears somewhat bleached from the sun. It is hard to believe it was once alive.
Sand dollars are from the class of marine animals known as Echinoids, spiny skinned creatures. Their relations include the sea lily, the sea cucumber, the star fish and the sea urchin. When alive, the local species, Echinarachnius parma is outfitted in a maroon-colored suit of moveable spines that encompass the entire shell. Like its close relative the sea urchin, the sand dollar has five sets of pores arranged petal pattern. The pores are used to move sea water into its internal water-vascular system which allows for movement.
Sand dollars live beyond mean low water on top of or just beneath the surface of sandy or muddy areas. The spines on the somewhat flattened underside of the animal allow it to burrow or to slowly creep through the sand. Fine, hair-like cilia cover the tiny spines. These cilia, in combination with a mucous coating, move food to the mouth opening which is in the center of the star shaped grooves on the underside of the animal. Its food consists of plankters and organic particles that end up in the sandy bottom.
Due to their diminutive edible parts and relatively hard skeleton, few animals bother sand dollars. One animal found to enjoy them on occasion is the thick-lipped, eel-like ocean pout.
On the ocean bottom, sand dollars are frequently found together. This is due in part to their preference of soft bottom areas as well as convenience for reproduction. The sexes are separate and gametes are released into the water column as in most echinoids. The free-swimming larvae metamorphose through several stages before the test begins to form and they become bottom dwellers.
Since the sand dollar lives in sandy locations, anyone who would like to collect their shells should comb beaches as the tide recedes. The very best time for collecting is after a heavy storm, as many of the shells that have died are dredged up by the increased wave action.
Sand dollars are not made. They are born. They are living creatures. They reproduce lika other creatures. There was a myth though that says that sand dollars are made by sea mermaids and it was their currency!
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How did sand dollars get their name?
At first it was not known that the sand dollars are living things. People thought (myth) it was like a large coin and that it was the coin/dollar used by the sea mermaids. It was found on beach sands. hence the name sand dollars.
What about fish ville?
Fishville is a game where you get fish, feed them, and then sell them for money. It is made by Zynga and is playable of Facebook. Question was: how do you get sand dollars? You get your freinds to send you a mystery box and in there, occasionally, you get sand dollars. you can also get them from the treasure chest you can have in your tank. from both these things you either get coins, XP of sand dollars. although it is no-where near 1/3 sand dollars you do get one occasionally.
What is the sand dollars habitat?
In the sand
Do SandDollars lay eggs?
Sand dollars reproduce by releasing eggs and sperm into the water. The fertilized eggs develop into larvae that eventually settle on the ocean floor and grow into adult sand dollars. So, technically, sand dollars do not lay eggs externally like birds or reptiles.
Fishville cheats how to get sand dollars?
You can not cheat to get sand dollars. You have to work for it, or you have to buy it.
This echinoderm burrows in the sand?
Sand dollars.
How do sand dollars breathe?
Sand dollars breathe through a process known as diffusion, using their tube feet.
How sand dollars got its name?
sand dollars got there name because they are shaped like a coin and they dig themselves into the sand
How do sand dollars protect themselves?
Sand dollars don't protect themself, they just sit their........ :)-
What phylum contains sand dollars?
Phylum Echinodermata
What family is the sand dallor in?
what is the sand dollars kingdom
Do crabs eat sand dollars?
No, sand dollars mainly eat small worms and algae.
