Sometimes, it’s all about the simple things: like the soothing video of a sand dollar crawling slowly across the sand.
“Let your brain relax for a minute and watch this time lapse of a sand dollar (aka keyhole urchin) digging into the sand,” says Tybee Island Marine Science Center while sharing the hypnotic footage on Instagram.
Sand dollars are a type of sea urchin. Their most familiar form is probably their white exoskeleton that often washes up on beaches after the animal has died.
“However, a live sand dollar has a different look: densely packed, tiny spines that are grey-to-purple in colour,” says Monterey Bay Aquarium on its website.
This timelapse video shows a live sand dollar slowly making its way across the sand, creating a little build up of sediment in front of it and smoothing out the beach behind it as it goes.
Image and video credit: Sydney Fye, Tybee Island Marine Science Center, @tybeemarinesciencecenter
More amazing wildlife stories from around the world
- “Seriously underestimated.” Shark experts looked into the eyes of this deep-sea giant and were stunned by what they saw
- “It took me a few seconds to register what I was seeing.” Diver makes incredible discovery in Australian kelp forest
- This is the biggest snake den on the planet – 100,000 crammed into a small cavern
- In the dead of the night, this diver saw a bizarre thing scuttling out of the darkness
