{"id":21733,"date":"2015-01-05T10:47:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T15:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/?p=21733"},"modified":"2015-03-23T10:05:09","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T14:05:09","slug":"sanibels-captivating-live-sea-creatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/05\/sanibels-captivating-live-sea-creatures\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanibel’s Captivating Live Sea Creatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lightning<\/a><\/p>\n

As we celebrate new days watching the sun rise over the horizon at low tide in the new year on Sanibel…<\/p>\n

\"Sanibel<\/a><\/p>\n

We also shellebrate the gifts of the sea…<\/p>\n

\"seashell<\/a><\/p>\n

We also celebrate the gift of witnessing living creatures exposing themselves for just a short time as the water recedes.<\/p>\n

\"live<\/a><\/p>\n

With most animals, we are easily able to see if they are alive, healthy and breathing but with creatures of the sea that have washed ashore, it’s a little bit more difficult. We (shellers) take the time to to look for signs of life with respect. As soon as I saw this shell was occupied by noticing the body and OPERCULUM<\/strong><\/a> of the “snail” still intact, I gently placed it back in the water covered with sand making sure the opening faced down into to sand.<\/p>\n

\"live<\/a><\/p>\n

Even for some shellers, it’s hard to tell if a SAND DOLLAR is dead or alive so the best thing to do first is… slow down. Take a few minutes to look for any cilia which looks like fur or looks a little fuzzy in the edges. Any time a SAND DOLLAR is this color, assume that it is still alive… gently place it back in the water.<\/p>\n

\"Live<\/a><\/p>\n

If a STARFISH is any where near the water or if the sand is still damp where you found it, always assume it is still alive too and let it be.<\/p>\n

\"starfish<\/a><\/p>\n

Shellers\u00a0are very fortunate to have seen the miracles of Mother Nature as we comb the shorelines to discover the magic of the sea. We learn new lessons every day we walk the water’s edge. For most beach combers, we know the signs of life in sea creatures but inexperienced visitors may be overwhelmed with the beauty that surrounds them and not know to take the time to look for signs of life. Since I grew up on the water, I always assumed other folks knew shells, SAND DOLLARS and STARFISH live their lives close to shore but now I’ve learned\u00a0that most people don’t know much about life in the ocean or gulf. First time visitors to the beach\u00a0may have heard how amazing shell collecting is and unintentionally collect a live animal without knowing it. It’s an amazing experience to see the compassion on a new sheller’s face after learning they have collected a live animal then race it to the water where they found it to save its life. Most just don’t know… and are thankful to learn and appreciate the living ocean even more.<\/p>\n

\"father<\/a><\/p>\n

There have been so many live critters exposed during the morning’s low tide the last few days so with many newbies on the beaches, I’m sure I’ll get to see the amazement on someone’s face that just learned for the first time that shells, sand dollars and starfish are living beings and are still actually alive.<\/p>\n

\"live<\/a><\/p>\n

Come with me on a shelling trip! For upcoming dates …\u00a0CLICK HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"pam<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we celebrate new days watching the sun rise over the horizon at low tide in the new year on Sanibel… We also shellebrate the gifts of the sea… We also celebrate the gift of witnessing living creatures exposing themselves for just a short time as the water recedes. With most animals, we are easily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,1952,254,2003,47,27,651,2007],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lightning-whelk-whelk","category-live-sand-dollar","category-low-tide","category-operculum","category-sand-dollar","category-starfish-sea-star","category-sunrise","category-whelk","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Nubb-5Ex","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21733"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21749,"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21733\/revisions\/21749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}