Sand Dollar Discovery

Did you know that the actual color of a living sand dollar is a purplish-gray?  If you flip them over and look at the bottom surface, it is covered with hundreds and hundreds of little legs that are constantly in motion.  If a living sand dollar is sitting on a sandy surface in a half inch or more of water, it is mobile - what a surprise that was to watch in action!

The color of this sand dollar is just about the color of the living organism when it is wet.

In addition to the "star" pattern on the top of the sand dollar, a closer investigation reveals pentagon-shaped cells throughout the exo-skeleton.  The sand dollar could be called a five dollar with the number of repeating features that echo some aspect of "5".