Take a stroll along Hoshizuna-no-Hama (Star Sand Beach), located on Iriomote Island, enjoying your feet submerge in the sand. Look closely, and you’ll see that the sand on this beach is very special.
The tiny star-shaped grains of sand you’ll see on your feet are actually the pointy husks of millions of tiny Foraminifera, which are part of the same protist as amoeba. When Foraminifera die, the tide brings them ashore from coral reefs in the Western Pacific Ocean.
The Foraminifera phylum includes some 10,000 species that create shells of various designs. Star-shaped shells, such as the kind created by the Baculogypsina sphaerulata species shown here, are very rare.
