are the
tiny offspring of the Southern Cross and the North Star,
they were born in the ocean just off Okinawa, but were killed
by a giant serpent soon after, their small skeletons are all that remains, a lovely story, but in reality the 'sand' at Hoshizuna-no-Hama,
which translates to “Sand in the Shape of a Star”, located
on Irimote, the second-largest island in Okinawa prefecture, in Japan is actually the exoskeleton of Foraminifera, a marine protozoa that thrives on
the ocean floor, their calcium carbonate shells remain behind after their death
and are constantly washed ashore by the ocean, creating this stunning natural
wonder mentioned on the internet and social media in particular, that has really
boosted the popularity of Hoshizuna-no-Hama beach, which has proven both a
blessing and a curse, as despite the obvious benefits to local businesses, the
increase in tourists has accelerated the disappearance of star-shaped sand, as
the ocean can’t seem to wash up enough of it fast enough to compete with people
taking the grains home with them as souvenirs,
so much so that local authorities have forbidden people from taking the peculiar
sand home with them, measuring
only a few millimetres in size, the star-shaped grains of sand are really tough
to notice at first, but as these tiny stars stick to your fingers and toes, you
start to see that they look different than regular specks of sand, I can understand why people would like to take some home, it is a pity the powers that be can not sell just small amounts of the sand in say a glass tube rather than people trying to smuggle bucketfuls, as an aside Hoshizuna-no-Hama is Okinawa’s most famous star sand beach,
but it isn’t the only one, other such beaches can be found on the nearby
islands of Taketomi, Tokashiki and Hatoma, perhaps I should not of mentioned them!
2 comments:
As a child growing up in rural Kansas, a pastime for our group of 8 year olds was collecting individual Crinoid segments. They look like miniature poker chips. At one time Kansas was covered by an ancient sea and crinoids lived by attaching themselves to the bottom of the sea. Many millions of years later, their backbone segments separated and mixed with the sand and gravel from the ocean flood. Once the sea receded, the gravel and bars remained exposed on the land surface. Those bars of material were our great hunting grounds each summer. Status of the hunters was determined by how big and varied your Crinoid collection was plus how many rare large disks you had. They were then actively traded between the kids during the school year and placed in a used cigar box…what a treasure for an eight year old! The star sand story reminded me of those lazy summer days spent hunting when I was a kid. Thanks for the memory.
John & Alley
Dear John and Alley, such happy, carefree memories of childhood, for myself days like that were spent at Warden Point on the Isle of Sheppey, London clay hit the sea and with every tide new treasures were reviled as the wave action dissolved the clay, mostly small sharks teeth, but on some years there would be a plethora of crabs or lobster, as well as fish vertebrate, great halcyon days, best regards Stan and Diana.
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