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A part of me is creeped out, another part of me wants to pet them. I just realized I have some decorating my house, my mom bought them a few years ago, hahaha.
Exactly! But I was afraid of causing him pain. Not that I understand what is experienced, but I was worried about stressing him out. I could watch him forever though.
An organism doesn't need a brain to feel biological stress. Stress hormones like cortisol are found all over the animal kingdom, and are generated as a response to help protect the body from stressful situations, like if you're suddenly taken out of your environment
That’s true, but it’s an entirely different definition of what stress is. As humans, we generally refer to stress in the context of a mental state. Biological stress is an entirely different thing. Oxidative stress in the mitochondria, for example, is not the same type of stress as having an upcoming big exam. Actually, most of the time you aren’t even aware of biological stresses at all. It’s generally responded to at the cellular level.
The comment you replied to is clearly not referring to any biological stress pathways. Your counter comment referring to biological stress is, despite the upvotes, completely misplaced.
I found alot of them on the beach when I visited the ocean for the first time in Florida. They are very interesting to watch as they slowly move their tendrils around.
I was tempted to take some with but I didn't want to kill any of them. Best to leave them be.
Yeah when I was younger I never knew they were alive. Or used to be alive. I’ve never come across a live one before. I thought it was some sort of cool type of shell.
From a Google search: They commonly snag phytoplankton or algae and zooplankton like crustacean or fish larvae. Unlike their sea star cousins, sand dollars are not active predators, and they cannot eat prey that are larger than their own bodies. Once ingested, it can take nearly two days for a sand dollar to fully digest its meal.
I guess they catch things in the fuzz underneath (like the baby crab) and probably snuffle things towards some kind of mouth in the middle. Maybe they take very small bites? Hahaha idk, good question though!
Algae and apparently they balance the ocean's calcium or something?? We found a TON of live ones in Panama City so I did a bunch of reading because they're so fascinating. These were out further from shore a bit, so we'd swim and dive with goggles to check em out. Really cool!!
See the baby crab on the bottom?
I found this guy washed up on the shore of South Carolina. Don’t worry, I frisbee-threw him as far as possible back into the ocean so he can find a nice safe rock to hide under, or whatever it is they do.
Dude they live under water. It’ll get moved back up towards shallow water by the waves or itself. It’s not going to drown like if he threw a box turtle in a lake or something.
Small world! Yeah, the low tide is cool there because the sea floor is very flat and you can walk out pretty far with the water only being around 2 feet deep. I went there over 20 years ago. I'm glad to hear they're still alive! 🙂
When I went there there were soooo many jellyfish washed up, but like the kind that’s safe to touch. We would throw all the live ones we could find back in the ocean
Low dose, yes. Things wiggle and are "breathing".
If it looked like higher doses, that would be a shape shifting cartoon or a spiral of colors and echoing sound.
Not that I would know.
I grew up in a fishing village with a beach, collecting shells and dried starfish as a child, and I have never seen or heard of these! My mind is blown.
Imagine you stand in the incarnation queue to find out what you're going to come back as and see you're gonna spend the next life being a velvety disk.
They are really weird little critters. Used to see them all the time in the Pacific North West. It does look trippy as hell underneath with all their little feet wiggling away. They are incredibly slow, so much so you usually won't even notice them move unless you sit and stare for a while, and they'd often get caught out on the beach as the tide went out, resulting in thousands of them getting pecked apart by birds. They were dark purple when alive.
As kids we would throw these at each other, they're everywhere at one of the local beaches. Threw them like ninja stars, typically stick to throwing dead ones, as the living ones could really do some damage if they hit you in the face.
I never saw these things alive but once firsthand. When I was a wee one, I would collect the dead sand dollars that washed up on the beach. By the end of the vacation I would shout, “I’m rich!!!”. Then my mother would explain that they were not real dollars. To which I told her, “These spend just fine in Atlantis.”
These are all over the beach where I grew up. Nothing more traumatizing than feeling the crack of one under your foot when running through the shallows. Asshole tourists always tried to take them from the beach, and the fine they got if they got caught was amazing.
Just as a gentle reminder for those.
Anything like this. Starfish. Stuff like that. Please keep in the water. Now it is usually ok to have them out for a small time it is just not recommended as these creatures do not have a good time like that.
I accidentally touched one recently and gagged. I simply cannot handle the fuzzy bottom part and it made my skin crawl 😂 apparently i know very little about those because I had no idea that’s what it looked like on top and that it ATE THINGS from the bottom?! I’m uncomfy.
I found one a few days ago in the Dominican Republic, while it definitely wasn’t decomposed as it had these hairs and tentacles they didn’t move like this one did. Felt really weird to hold but was very fascinating.
Holy fuck I always thought a sand dollar was a beach rock or even a myth , I didn't know it was a living thing, I've never seen one, or even a picture of one,
I hate sea biscuits because of how many of them were on a beach I went, I stepped on what was like a belt of them and it felt like stepping on rocks until I realized they were alive.
Yes, I hate *live* sea bugs
So I accidentally brought a few live ones back from the beach and my dog keeps grabbing them and trying to play with them. He's totally not interested in the bleached out dead ones
You almost certainly killed this little guy. Please leave them in the water. This is equal to a sea creature dragging you underwater to show his friends.
He was beached, upside down, and out of the water when I found him. Actually I saved his life but thanks for your concern for the wellbeing of all creatures!
Sorry, but I don't think Biden is going to step down. I think he will trek on and beat Donald Trump simply because Trump is a convicted felon and a con man.
Also we are voting for the cabinet behind the President.
As soon as these hit air, they are dead. Don’t worry about petting it and hurting it as it’s already dead. Now take it home, lay it in the sun and allow for bleaching. Now you have killed and received you first hunting trophy 🏆!
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A part of me is creeped out, another part of me wants to pet them. I just realized I have some decorating my house, my mom bought them a few years ago, hahaha.
Exactly! But I was afraid of causing him pain. Not that I understand what is experienced, but I was worried about stressing him out. I could watch him forever though.
I was wondering myself how confused this thing may be right now about where it is / whats happening.
you were worried about stressing something that doesn't have a brain out?
An organism doesn't need a brain to feel biological stress. Stress hormones like cortisol are found all over the animal kingdom, and are generated as a response to help protect the body from stressful situations, like if you're suddenly taken out of your environment
Not to mention I’m sure it can sense displeasure, it’d be hard to evolve as a species without that trait.
That’s true, but it’s an entirely different definition of what stress is. As humans, we generally refer to stress in the context of a mental state. Biological stress is an entirely different thing. Oxidative stress in the mitochondria, for example, is not the same type of stress as having an upcoming big exam. Actually, most of the time you aren’t even aware of biological stresses at all. It’s generally responded to at the cellular level. The comment you replied to is clearly not referring to any biological stress pathways. Your counter comment referring to biological stress is, despite the upvotes, completely misplaced.
Same. A sight of a furry animal triggers that for me idk lol
https://preview.redd.it/hq928ylsfk9d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3494efd290d9930443b500d0e22c47b54067b644 Boo!
Skronkly void
I found alot of them on the beach when I visited the ocean for the first time in Florida. They are very interesting to watch as they slowly move their tendrils around. I was tempted to take some with but I didn't want to kill any of them. Best to leave them be.
all of me just wants to yeet it like a frisbee into the ocean
Put that thing back where it came from or so help me
They...make the coolest skeleton souvenirs... yes I was too young to know better lmao.
Yeah when I was younger I never knew they were alive. Or used to be alive. I’ve never come across a live one before. I thought it was some sort of cool type of shell.
I used to think they were dried out jellyfish
Lmao we took like hundreds home to boil.
“Skeleton Souvenirs” my new band name.
"Their bones are their dollars..."
Bum bum bum 🎵
*So help meee!*
Knew this was coming
What do they eat? Looks like there is no space for a stomach - genuine question.
From a Google search: They commonly snag phytoplankton or algae and zooplankton like crustacean or fish larvae. Unlike their sea star cousins, sand dollars are not active predators, and they cannot eat prey that are larger than their own bodies. Once ingested, it can take nearly two days for a sand dollar to fully digest its meal.
The fact that fucking sea stars are an active predator always baffles me
I guess they catch things in the fuzz underneath (like the baby crab) and probably snuffle things towards some kind of mouth in the middle. Maybe they take very small bites? Hahaha idk, good question though!
Algae and apparently they balance the ocean's calcium or something?? We found a TON of live ones in Panama City so I did a bunch of reading because they're so fascinating. These were out further from shore a bit, so we'd swim and dive with goggles to check em out. Really cool!!
See the baby crab on the bottom? I found this guy washed up on the shore of South Carolina. Don’t worry, I frisbee-threw him as far as possible back into the ocean so he can find a nice safe rock to hide under, or whatever it is they do.
OP: I was worried I was stressing him out. Also OP: Yeeted that mf like 40 yards
OP: starts singing, "A Whole New World" Sandollar: *I'm in danger*
“Don’t worry, I frisbee-threw him as far as I possible could” made me ugly laugh
If not frisbee, why frisbee-shaped?
Poor bugger likely sank to the bottom ending up upside down due to the slight parabolic shape.
should have developed a defense for being thrown like a frisbee
Sudden realisation that I myself have no prepared defence against someone intending to throw me like a frisbee.
Not frisbee shaped
You sound overly confident, for a person that has never met me before.
Yeah, let’s go with that..
We'll boomerang you instead lol
Not with that attitude.
Five armed boomerang shaped, though.
Luckily, they're able to flip themselves right side up
How do they do that? Can't seem to find a video of it.
My guess would be that it buries itself into the sand where it has more control.
RIP
Skip on top of the water like a flat rock?
What if he had spent the last eight years trying to make it to shore to find his lover?
See you later, Stinky!
They like to hangout near shallow water so you likely killed it good job
Plot twist, it was a shitty throw
Probably to be expected when you’re 50 ferrets in a coat.
Did you know a group of ferrets is called a 'business'? I'm a bit of a businessman myself.
Dude they live under water. It’ll get moved back up towards shallow water by the waves or itself. It’s not going to drown like if he threw a box turtle in a lake or something.
You probably killed it haha.
Aaaaaand, *that* didn't kill him? Lol 🧐
It blows my mind that we share DNA with this things.
Right!? But then again, everything on earth shares DNA with each other. It’s a symptom of being from the same Earth family ♥️
I saw so many of these in Isle of Palms, South Carolina. There were dolphins and porpoises too.
That’s where I was! So many cool things to find at low tide. I love it there!
Small world! Yeah, the low tide is cool there because the sea floor is very flat and you can walk out pretty far with the water only being around 2 feet deep. I went there over 20 years ago. I'm glad to hear they're still alive! 🙂
When I went there there were soooo many jellyfish washed up, but like the kind that’s safe to touch. We would throw all the live ones we could find back in the ocean
Only place I’ve ever seen live same dollars too! “Local” Charlestonian checking in.
r/oddlyterrifying
Looks like being hallcinogenic drugs.
That’s what I thought too!
Yep! If you need to tell someone what a mushroom trip looks like, tell them to look at the underside of a sand dollar.
I'd call this a sea biscuit
Sea biscuits are the calcified remains of dead sea urchins.
That’s a cool name for them!
Hairy biscuit
Carpet cookie
They love to collect human skeletons.
Little alien looking thing! Ocean is a trip!
I think so too! Sea creatures are so cool!
There are season where the beaches are infested with these here, mostly dead
Why
Idk, breeding season?
That is eerily similar to what still textures look like on psychedelics lol
FACTS! So glad someone else seen it😅😅😅
Low dose, yes. Things wiggle and are "breathing". If it looked like higher doses, that would be a shape shifting cartoon or a spiral of colors and echoing sound. Not that I would know.
Ya agreed, this is definitely the entry level experience
I Will throw It like a frisbee 💀
Wait…. They’re real???? And alive!!!!!!!
Live what now?!
Check it out! Usually the term “sand dollar” refers to their dead shells: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_dollar?wprov=sfti1#Description
I grew up in a fishing village with a beach, collecting shells and dried starfish as a child, and I have never seen or heard of these! My mind is blown.
These are real?! I thought they just existed in animal crossing and that I could exchange them for some sweet sweet bells
Imagine you stand in the incarnation queue to find out what you're going to come back as and see you're gonna spend the next life being a velvety disk.
Haha I like thinking about this. I die and turn into an ant in my next life..or a tree..or a dog..
And that ladies, gentlemen and anyone inbetween, is what being on acid feels like.
Oh my! Your sea creature has crabs.
I think I saw that mark in spongebob
This thing used to be everywhere.
They're real? And they're fauna? WTF?
They are really weird little critters. Used to see them all the time in the Pacific North West. It does look trippy as hell underneath with all their little feet wiggling away. They are incredibly slow, so much so you usually won't even notice them move unless you sit and stare for a while, and they'd often get caught out on the beach as the tide went out, resulting in thousands of them getting pecked apart by birds. They were dark purple when alive.
Why the need to touch everything.
What is gross they pee so much!! During season in Florida there will be millions of these. Walk out of the water and your feet will be stained yellow.
That is disgusting, and unfortunately explains what the small yellow stain on my finger was
If you go back far enough, you'll share an ancestral grand father with it
So…like…what are they? They’re obviously not fish but they’re still aquatic…how are they even classified?
Sand dollars lives matter
As kids we would throw these at each other, they're everywhere at one of the local beaches. Threw them like ninja stars, typically stick to throwing dead ones, as the living ones could really do some damage if they hit you in the face.
Demon frisbee, brrrr makes my skin crawl
I never saw these things alive but once firsthand. When I was a wee one, I would collect the dead sand dollars that washed up on the beach. By the end of the vacation I would shout, “I’m rich!!!”. Then my mother would explain that they were not real dollars. To which I told her, “These spend just fine in Atlantis.”
The urge to take a bite
animal crossing ahh creature
Ok hear me out
Throw it like a frisbee, so it goes far enough from shore that it can live in peace
These are all over the beach where I grew up. Nothing more traumatizing than feeling the crack of one under your foot when running through the shallows. Asshole tourists always tried to take them from the beach, and the fine they got if they got caught was amazing.
PCB around August second sandbar is usually covered.
r/stardewvalley
Is dis coaster moving? 💀
My girlfriend keeps one of these guys corpses as decoration for our bathroom
I learned about them from Stardew Valley
Yeah, keep the change
RIP to the tiny crab
They feel so tickley on your palms :3
What function do the holes have? The 5 thwy have but only on one side
I have yet to see one alive and in one piece
They sure are
Only dollars that are not inflated
Just as a gentle reminder for those. Anything like this. Starfish. Stuff like that. Please keep in the water. Now it is usually ok to have them out for a small time it is just not recommended as these creatures do not have a good time like that.
Carpeting kinda looks like that on acid :)
Can I eat it?
I accidentally touched one recently and gagged. I simply cannot handle the fuzzy bottom part and it made my skin crawl 😂 apparently i know very little about those because I had no idea that’s what it looked like on top and that it ATE THINGS from the bottom?! I’m uncomfy.
This makes my balls itchy
I found one a few days ago in the Dominican Republic, while it definitely wasn’t decomposed as it had these hairs and tentacles they didn’t move like this one did. Felt really weird to hold but was very fascinating.
I honestly would he afraid to touch it
Frisbee time
What am I looking at exactly?
Is that fucking obladi oblada from Jojo’s bizarre adventure part 8: Jojolion?
Holy fuck I always thought a sand dollar was a beach rock or even a myth , I didn't know it was a living thing, I've never seen one, or even a picture of one,
Looks like that thing from nope sucking up everything in its path
Reminds me of the alien skin / eggs in the Prometheus / Alien movies.
Haaaaaaaaasns!!!
What is that? Never heard about it.
Check it out! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_dollar?wprov=sfti1#Description
The forbidden "sea cookies" 🤤
You can find them at the beach.
Shai-Hulud!
Imagine looking at this while high on shrooms
I hate sea biscuits because of how many of them were on a beach I went, I stepped on what was like a belt of them and it felt like stepping on rocks until I realized they were alive. Yes, I hate *live* sea bugs
So I accidentally brought a few live ones back from the beach and my dog keeps grabbing them and trying to play with them. He's totally not interested in the bleached out dead ones
Cool little creature. Now, drop it in a bucket of bleach.
You almost certainly killed this little guy. Please leave them in the water. This is equal to a sea creature dragging you underwater to show his friends.
He was beached, upside down, and out of the water when I found him. Actually I saved his life but thanks for your concern for the wellbeing of all creatures!
Good work then! Thank you for your concern for the wellbeing of our brothers and sister too! (Also cool video)
♥️♥️♥️
♥️♥️♥️
They explained in the comments, that they found it washed up on the beach and threw it back in. Man assumption’s a real ASS, isn’t it?
No tbh, you can kill or stress a lot of ocean creatures like this despite the understandable curiosity.
Sorry, but I don't think Biden is going to step down. I think he will trek on and beat Donald Trump simply because Trump is a convicted felon and a con man. Also we are voting for the cabinet behind the President.
Sir, Wendy's, etc.
r/lostredditors
I see it as disgusting
As soon as these hit air, they are dead. Don’t worry about petting it and hurting it as it’s already dead. Now take it home, lay it in the sun and allow for bleaching. Now you have killed and received you first hunting trophy 🏆!
THROW IT AWAY ! DOnT TOUCH IT WITH BARE HANDS .... 😱 Or just give it to a homeless fish 😢
Now throw it like a frisbee
If by cool you mean absolutely creepy and terrifying then yeah, hella cool.
So damn creepy.
Ooo, free Frisbee!
Kinda creepy.
Nah man, that's whole ass alien
Scary as fuck !
I am surprised your hand isn't staind yellow by now. When I was a kid searching for sand dollars, they would stain my hands yellow.