How do sand dollars feed

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Shop Two Trees pencils. For educators For educators Learning at home. Online courses. Parent-led activities. Video lessons. Teacher development. Teacher programs. Project-based science examples. Book a field trip. Online courses for teens. Teen programs. Teen career resources. See all courses. Learn more and sign up. Search through the site content. Enlarge image. Animal type Invertebrates. Size Up to 3. Diet Crustacean larvae, small copepods, detritus, diatoms, algae.

Range Low intertidal to about feet 40 m from Alaska to Baja California. Relatives Sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers; Phylum: Echinodermata. Natural history.

Standing up or weighted down In quiet waters, this flattened animal stands on end, partially buried in the sand. Cool facts. The sand dollar's mouth has a jaw with five teethlike sections to grind up tiny plants and animals. 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. Sand dollars usually crowd together over an area. As many as sand dollars can live in one square yard. These disk-shaped animals live in colonies and reproduce by releasing eggs and sperm into the water.

As a rule, when one individual begins to spawn all the others do likewise. Simultaneous spawning greatly increases the chances of fertilization and continuation of the species.

Spawning usually takes place spring through August and likely occurs multiple times. Females can produce more than , eggs per year. The fertilized eggs drift in ocean currents for many weeks as they undergo a number of developmental changes — none of which we would recognize as a sand dollar.

During this time, thousands are consumed by a wide variety of sea life. Those that reach full development settle on the seafloor to become exact miniatures of their parents. The mouth is on the underside of the body and contains five teeth used for grinding. The burrowing habit of these flat, round animals makes them difficult to see in the shallow waters where they live. Most beachgoers are familiar with the smooth, white, fragile sand dollars found washed up on beaches.

These are skeletons of former live sand dollars and are considered prized finds. Their white color comes from having been bleached by the sun. By gently shaking the fragile shell, you can often hear their five teeth rattling inside. Live sand dollars, on the other hand, are dark brown, or sometimes purplish or greenish and covered with short, nearly invisible bristly spines.

The sand dollar is one of the most interesting sea creatures, their ability to adapt to new environments and filter their food at a microscopic level is a marvel of nature. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

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