Sand dollars are living marine animals, which are closely related to starfish and sea urchins. They are flattened bonny creature living on the sand beds under the sea. They are sometimes washed ashore in beaches.

they are very small.

Probably at most a 4 or 5 inch diameter.

Florida does not allow "possession of any live shell" and one could have to pay a $500 fine or 60 days in jail.

If the sand dollar is living and if the dead one has not lost all the soft tissues yet, leave the snad dollar in sun for a few days. Then with a hard bristle clean them from debris and sand stuck to them. If your sand dollar is not bright enough, put them in a solution of chlorine bleach for some times and then rinse in fresh water. Do not allow it to soak in chlorine bleach for long as it may soften and disintegrate. Your sand dollar is ready for display or for any craft work.

Sand dollars have blunt spines that will neither "poke" you nor poison you. They are safe to handle. You can read more about this relative of the urchin by using the link below.

The sand dollar (Clypeaster sp. Family Clypeasteridae) a flat, round type of sea urchin, is specially adapted to burrowing in sand. The star shape is due to its set of five pores arranged in a petal-like pattern through which it moves sea water into its internal water-vascular system. It's the latter that allows the sand dollar to move about. A link is provided below.

In the sea, the sand dollars are found in groups on a soft muddy or sandy sea bed.

Sand dollar is like a starfish. It has a hard bony body covered by spiny skin. The skin has cilia, which helps in catching the organic material that comes near to feed on. There are male and female sand dollars seperately. Snad dollars live in a group on sandy sea beds. They are sometimes washed ashore. when threatened the sand dollars can burry themselves under sand.

Genus and species is Clypeaster subdepressus

I have heard that north of Seaside near the river is a good spot to find them. However, if you get up early in the morning at low tide and go to Cannon Beach, just a few miles south of Seaside, you can find hundreds of unbroken sand dollars on the north side of Haystack Rock.

Yes. Everything that was made has DNA in their cells.

The sand dollars live in sea on soft sandy sea beds. They are just washed ashore.

Yes sand dollars sting and it hurts. I brought one up not thinking it had a defense system , when all of a sudden my entire left forearm received a lasting shock that made me drop it Once again, mother nature has earned her respect.

Laganum ocalanum is the smallest sand dollar at a minimum adult size of 1/8 of an inch. This species of sand dollar originated in the late Eocene epoch not long before 33.6 mya, which means this species survived the Eocene-Oligocene extinction.

shut the f up

Sand dollars have these cilia or hair-like structures underneath them that are used like legs. They are used for locomotion and if they are not moving (especially for a long period of time), they are probably dead by then.

Put them in the "Sand Bank', ha ha, ok but seriously Sand dollars live beyond mean low water on top of or just beneath the surface of sandy or muddy areas. The spines on the somewhat flattened underside of the animal allow it to burrow or to slowly creep through the sediment. Fine, hair-like cilia cover the tiny spines. Podia that line the food grooves move food to the mouth opening, which is in the center of the star-shaped grooves on the underside of the animal (called the oral surface). Its food consists of crustacean larvae, small copepods, diatoms, algae and detritus.

Sand dollars range in size, and some could only be a few ounces, while others could be towards an entire pound (a few ounces under 16 ounces).

No it would die immediately as they are salt water creatures.

No they cannot. Once a Sand Dollar is broken it cannot grow back any part of its body.

--- Shawn Caudill