Wrong. What you’re really interacting with is the skeleton of the sand dollar. It makes those Florida gift shops a bit more ominous, doesn’t it?
Sand dollars, before they’re harvested for souvenirs, are living organisms that look entirely different. They’re dark gray or purple and have an outer layer made up of tiny “spines” all over that allow them to move. This just makes them look furry, to an untrained eye.
This video is going viral on Reddit because it shows what sand dollars really look like, but some people aren’t happy about it.
U/BeautifulJustDaWayUR posted the video in which a human is interacting with a living sand dollar. The sea creature appears to be on a rock, out of the water. Sunlight washes over the sand dollar as it tries to move, its body shimmering in the glow. It looks beautiful and complex, a great lesson for those who had no idea sand dollars were ever living things.
But Reddit commenters don’t love that this sand dollar was being handled so roughly by a human. The human flips the sand dollar over to show its underside with little care. And the person shouldn’t have been interacting with a living sand dollar in the first place. Here’s why.
It’s illegal to take a living sand dollar from its environment in most American beach areas. Beachgoers who find a living sand dollar are encouraged to return it to the “sea floor,” the Sanibel Sea School, a local institution that aims to teach children and adults about marine ecosystems, explained. Sand dollars can’t survive more than a few minutes out of water, so the video seems problematic. Users have no way of knowing what the videographer did with the sensitive species.
Collecting dead sand dollars, the white, exoskeletons, is allowed. But sometimes it’s difficult to tell if a sand dollar is living or dead. There’s one great way. If you put a sand dollar in your palm for about a minute, a living sand dollar will leave a harmless, yellow tint. If there’s no tint, this means the sand dollar is dead, according to the Sanibel Sea School.
Some questioned why sand dollars are an ongoing target. “To most people they are no different than shells. But even with the understanding that they are live animals, how is this different than a shrimp or fish? It’s magestic [sic], but a life is a life,” wrote u/RussianVoteEngineer.
Others, though, didn’t think the video was a problem at all. “Why does everyone think they are going to die so fast? I’ve played with tons of them as a kid. They’re remarkably hardy,” said u/Dristig.
