Many folks are familiar with the white sand dollars found on the beach. I've always liked them because I knew that if you break one open, you will
come across what appear to be little winged creatures.
I am not familiar with this particular story of The Sand Dollar in the video above, but have seen it is downloadable on the internet. I used the above
video to show the dried sand dollar and the inside of one.
There is a Legend of the Sand Dollar with references to Easter, Christmas and Jesus.
One can also look upon the top of a Sea Dollar and gather that the five pointed star is a representation of it's connection to human kind.
We are typically born with two legs, two arms and a head equaling the five points of a star. We typically have five fingers on each hand and foot and
we typically have five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing). A source to the number five meanings and cultural references.
I was quite surprised at the fact that the attractive white Sand Dollar was actually a living being!
Sand Dollars prefer to live in the sand, in relatively shallow water. More on
Sand Dollars.
Here is a video of 25 minutes of a moving Sand Dollar that has been condensed into 1:30 minutes,
Seeing these slow moving creatures alive and moving in their preferred environment and thinking upon the spiritual or metaphysical aspects, I gather
one can gain insight into the virtue of patience.
Staying in the shallower waters of emotion is not necessarily a bad thing, IMHO. The ability to navigate the surface emotions in life while not
getting too deep or weighed down, can benefit one in the day to day life. I personally think It is good to let the ocean tide wash away from one the
heavier or troubling emotions with a good cry and start refreshed.
Thank you for reading my reflections on the Sand Dollar.
edit on 9-5-2016 by peppycat because: punctuation
edit on 9-5-2016 by
peppycat because: slow moving creatures
a reply to: Pinocchio Glad you find them interesting! I'm not sure how well they would do as pets. You would have to have a
large sea water tank.
Personally I think they are probably happiest in their natural environment... the ocean... but then again they could be safe from their natural
predators in a nice big salt water tank.
Sand Dollars are awesome, I love collecting the sun bleached ones that find on the barrier islands around here. They make for wonderful interior
decorating.
Well in fact I have had sand dollars as a pet, and will tell you a bit about them and what type of tank one could enjoy them the best in. They are
detritus/bottom feeders. This is why they enjoy the shallows of the beach. All of the dissolved organic matter from the sea eventually ends up as that
foam stuff you see sometimes at the point a wave hits the shore. Natural currents take deposit them there where various zooplankton type organism such
as isopods and copepods, mussels, crabs, sand dollars etc all break this down.
Anyways best to get a really small one if it is something you are interested in doing within the bounds of your local shelling and beach combing
ordinances . I do not recommend them in a reef setting for the sole reason that they will disturb your rock work over time and may damage prize coral
as a result. Urchins will do exactly the same thing but worse. They just kind of sink into the sand and move around slowly. Because the water quality
needs to be perfect for coral, the environment may not be best to suitably sustain it in a natural way.
I recommend a fish only tank or with crustaceans in order to generate the proper environment that does not require you to "feed" the thing. The
beautiful thing about marine tanks, is when you understand the natural process of how everything eats, you can slowly tweak your system to be very
self sustaining requiring little actual direct feeding.
Alternately, you can keep them in a refugium, which is like a separate connected system that generate an additional natural water filtration method,
and still adds beauty and intrigue. Or one may prefer to keep an inverts/crustaceans tank that has Urchins, sand dollars, starfish and crabs/shrimp
etc. Some people do this.
I just took mine back to the beach after he grew 50% because he kept causing shifts in the sand which would lead to landslides. Soft coral are more
tolerant to such stresses. Stonies will not forgive as easy, and can break pieces. If your lucky though you can just turn the broken piece into a
frag.
They are not as big as that illustration shows, not even close. Its one of those fake images that you see in youtube previews that are never actually
in the video, they just enticing you to click. They are actually kind of neat. When they molt they leave behind their fully intact shell, legs, tail
and all. I have also had baby horeshoe crab in my reef tank, they also knock over the rockwork unfortunately. Back to the bay he went. Finding the
molts of the babies is my favorite though, they look really cool on the wall with everything else.
We were at a secluded beach in Florida where every time tou dug your hand in the sand bars in the water you pulled out a few dollars . We also
encountered 2 bigger than a volleyball sized horseshoe crabs mating. Was a very cool daytrip.
You will pretty much find them at almost every sand bar. I have found them at every beach I have went where I finally hit a sandbar. I do not find
Starfish as frequently. Usually only washed up on shore. Urchins I only see near rocky tidal areas. Ocean is always fun stuff.
When a fight breaks out during deep water, remember to breath and leave without too much of a trace...thus the shallow water, fight... not cute... not
funny.
Remember your manners at all cost, stay above the ones that can swear... or the ones that don't... harsh language is your best defense against
madness, seconds, only... return to proper speaking... it is okay
Remember to care for the participants in fight, verbal or otherwise when traveling the streets with no weapons... body only
Remember to always be fair in mediation...and to see, listen..to subtle notions between love unions, married by law or nature... depending on
tradition of the kind folks.
Thank you for following,
Bless the deeds that made me feel better,