Do You Know What You Are Flopping Down Upon?

One of my life’s missions is to bring you some information that may make you say “Wow!” or “Yuck!” or burst out laughing. Let me know what your response is to this one….

Were you at the beach sometime last year? Or maybe you are at the beach right now? (There must be a stronger word than jealous, or covetous, or envious, or green-eyed, or…you get the idea.)

Anyway, I must recommend the NOAA website. It is totally awesome! I decided to research sand. What is sand made of? Yes, most of us know that rocks and shells get broken down over thousands and millions of years. Most sand is made of quartz and feldspar, which contain iron oxide, giving sand its tan color.

But there are also unique beaches with unusual colored sand. Black sand comes from volcanic material. Interestingly, Bermuda’s famous pink beaches are formed from the decay of single-celled organisms called foraminifera.

Have you ever been lucky enough to spread your towel on a pristine white sand beach? Oh how beautiful they are!

White sand beaches have no quartz or feldspar or volcanic material or foraminifera. White sand is composed of…

POOP! Yes, the poop of parrotfish. The fish bite and scrape algae off rocks and coral. They grind up the inedible calcium-carbonate reef material in their intestines, and then excrete it as sand. Parrotfish can produce hundreds of pounds of poop each year!

Poop?! I beg your pardon! Parrotfish are the lovely creatures that create soft beds of white sand upon which we can lay our bodies, bodies exhausted by the sipping of too many umbrella-topped creations.

Poop is a good thing in so many ways. Perhaps next I will research more interesting poop facts. What? Not interesting? Nonsense. All 4th grade boys love this stuff! And we all have an inner 4th grade boy just dying to have the opportunity to be inappropriate, don’t we?

©2018 Margery Leveen Sher

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“Zipper and Broccoli Walk Into a Bar – Mind-Blowing Leader Notices”