It turns out that they sift sand for bits of magnetite to ingest that helps anchor them so they can remain upright. Those animals that use calcium carbonate to build shells and skeletons face challenges with ocean acidification. The increasing amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in oceans is leading to more acidic seawater.
Ocean acidification poses a critical threat to many shell building organisms : they make thinner shells and the shells of some species are actually dissolving. Read more about sand dollars from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Watch video about sand dollars. Skip to main content.
Anatomically, a sand dollar is much like a flattened sea urchin with smaller, hair-like spines. The eccentric sand dollar is a relatively small species reaching sizes of only a few inches in diameter that lives off the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Baja California. Though they are totally flat, these sand dollars are often observed buried in the sand on an edge with half of their bodies under the sand and half sticking out into the water.
Eccentric sand dollars, like most sand dollars, are filter feeders, and they use the small spines that cover their bodies to snag crustacean larva, plankton, and other tiny prey. The food is slowly passed from spine to spine until it reaches mouth at the middle of the bottom side of the body.
The spines are also used for locomotion, along with a series of tube feet, so called because they are operated by a hydraulic system controlled by the main body. When eccentric sand dollars move, they lay flat on the bottom with the mouth side facing down. The tube feet are also utilized for obtaining oxygen from the environment. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms.
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