Sea Jewels

11/02/2022

06/16/2013

Sea spray dolphin earrings

06/09/2013

Finally something new! $9.99 plus shipping. Pm me to place an order

08/11/2012

Spot light on the beautiful Creatures of the Sea

The Sand Dollar
The Common Sand Dollar
Echinarachnius parma
Sand Dollars

If you've strolled along a beach in Maine, you've probably found a sand dollar. But what is a sand dollar? Children have been known to say that sand dollars are pressed sand that has been dried or even the money of mermaids washed-up from the deep. In reality, the fragile disk is the skeleton or "test" of a marine animal. By the time the test washes up on the beach it is missing its velvety covering of minute spines and appears somewhat bleached from the sun. It is hard to believe it was once alive.

Sand dollars are from the class of marine animals known as Echinoids, spiny skinned creatures. Their relations include the sea lily, the sea cucumber, the star fish and the sea urchin. When alive, the local species, Echinarachnius parma is outfitted in a maroon-colored suit of moveable spines that encompass the entire shell. Like its close relative the sea urchin, the sand dollar has five sets of pores arranged petal pattern. The pores are used to move sea water into its internal water-vascular system which allows for movement.

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 sand. Fine, hair-like cilia cover the tiny spines. These cilia, in combination with a mucous coating, move food to the mouth opening which is in the center of the star shaped grooves on the underside of the animal. Its food consists of plankters and organic particles that end up in the sandy bottom.

Due to their diminutive edible parts and relatively hard skeleton, few animals bother sand dollars. One animal found to enjoy them on occasion is the thick-lipped, eel-like ocean pout.

On the ocean bottom, sand dollars are frequently found together. This is due in part to their preference of soft bottom areas as well as convenience for reproduction. The sexes are separate and gametes are released into the water column as in most echinoids. The free-swimming larvae metamorphose through several stages before the test begins to form and they become bottom dwellers.

Since the sand dollar lives in sandy locations, anyone who would like to collect their shells should comb beaches as the tide recedes. The very best time for collecting is after a heavy storm, as many of the shells that have died are dredged up by the increased wave action.

Cheryl Page

Information for this article was taken from:

* Gosner, Kenneth L., Guide to Identification of Marine and Estuarine Invertebrates; 1971 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
* Robbins, Sarah Fraser and Clarice Yentsch, The Sea Is All About Us ; 1973 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Read more about sanddollars from the Georgia Wildlife Federation.

Also, you can read about the Sand Dollar Legend.
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07/12/2012

I want to thank all the new faces to my Sea Jewels site. Anyone interested in hosting a party let me know. Hostess gets 25.00 worth of jewelry just for hosting and and if you book by the end of the month get a GoldenSail original piece. Message me for more info.

Of course local to the Charlotte market only at this time.

07/03/2012

Available now by special order. Hand made by Golden Sail. 19.99 includes shipping. Message me to order.

06/26/2012

Today's Spotlight on the beautiful creatures of the Sea

The Sea Star
Photo: A sea star seems to glow with its bright red color

Sea stars are purely marine animals, even using sea water instead of blood to pump nutrients throughout their bodies.

Photograph by David Doubilet
Map
Map: Starfish range

Starfish (Sea Star) Range
Fast Facts

Type:
Invertebrate
Diet:
Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:
Up to 35 years
Size:
4.7 to 9.4 in (12 to 24 cm)
Weight:
Up to 11 lbs (5 kg)
Did you know?
Sea stars have no brains and no blood. Their nervous system is spread through their arms and their “blood” is actually filtered sea water.
Size relative to a tea cup:
Illustration: Starfish compared with tea cup

Marine scientists have undertaken the difficult task of replacing the beloved starfish’s common name with sea star because, well, the starfish is not a fish. It’s an echinoderm, closely related to sea urchins and sand dollars.

There are some 2,000 species of sea star living in all the world’s oceans, from tropical habitats to the cold seafloor. The five-arm varieties are the most common, hence their name, but species with 10, 20, and even 40 arms exist.

They have bony, calcified skin, which protects them from most predators, and many wear striking colors that camouflage them or scare off potential attackers. Purely marine animals, there are no freshwater sea stars, and only a few live in brackish water.

Beyond their distinctive shape, sea stars are famous for their ability to regenerate limbs, and in some cases, entire bodies. They accomplish this by housing most or all of their vital organs in their arms. Some require the central body to be intact to regenerate, but a few species can grow an entirely new sea star just from a portion of a severed limb.

Most sea stars also have the remarkable ability to consume prey outside their bodies. Using tiny, suction-cupped tube feet, they pry open clams or oysters, and their sack-like cardiac stomach emerges from their mouth and oozes inside the shell. The stomach then envelops the prey to digest it, and finally withdraws back into the body.

Information provided by the National Geographic Website

06/15/2012

Fun Facts Spotlight on the beautiful creatures of the sea

The gentle Whale Shark

Gentle giants, whale sharks filter-feed, swimming with their wide mouths open, collecting plankton and small fish.
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry


Whale Shark Range
Fast Facts
Type:
Fish
Diet:
Carnivore
Size:
18 to 32.8 ft (5.5 to 10 m)
Weight:
Average, 20.6 tons (18.7 tonnes)
Group name:
School
Protection status:
Threatened
Did you know?
The largest whale shark ever measured was 40 feet (12.2 meters) long; however, the species is thought to grow even bigger.
Size relative to a bus:

As the largest fish in the sea, reaching lengths of 40 feet (12 meters) or more, whale sharks have an enormous menu from which to choose. Fortunately for most sea-dwellers—and us!—their favorite meal is plankton. They scoop these tiny plants and animals up, along with any small fish that happen to be around, with their colossal gaping mouths while swimming close to the water's surface.
The whale shark, like the world's second largest fish, the basking shark, is a filter feeder. In order to eat, the beast juts out its formidably sized jaws and passively filters everything in its path. The mechanism is theorized to be a technique called “cross-flow filtration,” similar to some bony fish and baleen whales.
The whale shark's flattened head sports a blunt snout above its mouth with short barbels protruding from its nostrils. Its back and sides are gray to brown with white spots among pale vertical and horizontal stripes, and its belly is white. Its two dorsal fins are set rearward on its body, which ends in a large dual-lobbed caudal fin (or tail).
Preferring warm waters, whale sharks populate all tropical seas. They are known to migrate every spring to the continental shelf of the central west coast of Australia. The coral spawning of the area's Ningaloo Reef provides the whale shark with an abundant supply of plankton.
Although massive, whale sharks are docile fish and sometimes allow swimmers to hitch a ride. They are currently listed as a vulnerable species; however, they continue to be hunted in parts of Asia, such as the Philippines.
Information: Gathered from The National Geographic web site

05/01/2012

The common Octopus is today’s spotlight on the beautiful creatures of the sea.

The common octopus would be unique for its appearance alone, with its massive bulbous head, large eyes, and eight distinctive arms. But by far the most striking characteristic of the octopus is the wide array of techniques it uses to avoid or thwart attackers.
Its first—and most amazing—line of defense is its ability to hide in plain sight. Using a network of pigment cells and specialized muscles in its skin, the common octopus can almost instantaneously match the colors, patterns, and even textures of its surroundings. Predators such as sharks, eels, and dolphins swim by without even noticing it.
When discovered, an octopus will release a cloud of black ink to obscure its attacker's view, giving it time to swim away. The ink even contains a substance that dulls a predator's sense of smell, making the fleeing octopus harder to track. Fast swimmers, they can jet forward by expelling water through their mantles. And their soft bodies can squeeze into impossibly small cracks and crevices where predators can't follow.
If all else fails, an octopus can lose an arm to escape a predator's grasp and regrow it later with no permanent damage. They also have beaklike jaws that can deliver a nasty bite, and venomous saliva, used mainly for subduing prey.
Considered the most intelligent of all invertebrates, the common octopus is found in the tropical and temperate waters of the world’s oceans. They can grow to about 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) in length and weigh up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms), although averages are much smaller. They prey on crabs, crayfish, and mollusks, and will sometimes use their ink to disorient their victims before attacking.

Information taken from the National Geographic web site.

04/19/2012

Sea Jewels at RedRabbit 27 in linconton

04/05/2012

Ok all summer is coming!
Time to pick out some fantastic summer Jewelry
This months hostess gift will be a hand made item from Golden Sail no two pieces are alike.

Call me today and book a party!

New designs coming from GoldenSail!!!!

04/05/2012

Spotlight on the beautiful creatures of the sea

To Day We Spotlight the Blue Crab




Fast Facts
Type:
Invertebrate
Diet:
Omnivore
Average life span in the wild:
1 to 3 years
Size:
4 in (10.2 cm) long; 9 in (23 cm) wide
Weight:
1 to 2 lbs (0.45 to 0.9 kg)
Group name:
Cast
Did you know?
Female blue crabs mate only once in their lives.
Size relative to a tea cup:


The blue crab is so named because of its sapphire-tinted claws. Its shell, or carapace, is actually a mottled brownish color, and mature females have red highlights on the tips of their pincers.
Prized by humans for their sweet, tender meat, these wide-ranging, ten-legged crustaceans are among the most heavily harvested creatures on the planet. Their scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, means "savory beautiful swimmer."
Blue crabs are found in brackish coastal lagoons and estuaries from Nova Scotia, through the Gulf of Mexico, and as far south as Uruguay. Close relatives of the shrimp and lobster, these bottom-dwelling omnivores have a prickly disposition and are quick to use their sharp front pincers. Large males can reach 9 inches (23 centimeters) in shell width.
They feed on almost anything they can get hold of, including mussels, snails, fish, plants, and even carrion and smaller blue crabs. They are also excellent swimmers, with specially adapted hind appendages shaped like paddles.
Blue crabs are extremely sensitive to environmental and habitat changes, and many populations, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay in the eastern United States, have experienced severe declines. Blue crabs also play a key role in managing the populations of the animals they prey on, and constant over harvesting has had wide-ranging negative effects on the ecosystems they inhabit. For this reason, comprehensive management schemes are in place in several parts of the blue crab's range.

Information provided by national Geographic