Sand dollars are actually burrowing sea urchins. And if you break open a sand dollar, five dove-shaped pieces emerge. Doves are often used in art and literature as a symbol of peace and goodwill. Now you know the legend of the sand dollar, a story of hope and peace.

During a sand dollar’s life, these parts function as teeth by allowing sand dollars to grind and chew their prey. When a sand dollar dies and dries up, its teeth become detached and closely resemble small, white birds that are often referred to as doves.

They can bury themselves in the sand up to two inches deep, and very dense populations can stack themselves up to three animals deep.

Soak your shells in bleach. Set a timer and only allow your sand dollars to soak in the bleach for 10 minutes or less. Soaking your shells for longer can cause the shells to disintegrate. If you’re cleaning a number of sand dollars, fill a baking tray with the bleach-and-water solution.

How can you tell if a sand dollar is dead or alive? Sand dollars are flat sea urchins that burrow into the soft sand. When alive, their undersides are full of “velvet-textured spines” covered with cilia, a latin word for eyelashes. When they’re no longer alive, the spines disappear.

Sand dollars can’t survive out of the water for more than a few minutes. If you find a live one, return it to its home by placing it gently on the sea floor, so it can continue to play its important role in Sanibel’s ecosystem. These dead sand dollars have been bleached by the sun and are fine to take home and enjoy.

six to 10 years
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.

Any beachcomber who finds Sand Dollars along their stroll considers it a lucky omen! They aren’t likely to be found on many beaches, but there are several spots around the United States where you’ll find them, including one of my favorites, Wingaersheek Beach, in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The Doves of Peace of Aristotle’s Lantern. Their shape can remind you of a dove, especially due to the dove gray or white color of the dried shell. When a sand dollar dies and dries up, the Aristotle’s lantern may break up into the five “doves” of legend, and create that rattling sound you hear when you shake a sand dollar test.

If you pick up the test and shake it gently, you may hear rattling inside. This is because the sand dollar’s amazing eating apparatus is dried and loose within the shell.

Shell shops often sell sand dollar tests with poems or plaques attached that tell the Legend of the Sand Dollar. The original author of the poem is unknown but the legend has been passed on for many years. Below is an excerpt of what is thought to be the original poem.

When a sand dollar dies and dries up, its teeth become detached and closely resemble small, white birds that are often referred to as doves. Many people have come to associate both the sand dollar itself and its doves as symbols of peace, which is why the doves are sometimes called “Doves of Peace.”