A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Donax variabilis
found while walking along Surfside Beach.
A bunch of coquinas in kfryn218 hand. We rushed to pick them up before they buried themselves, and then let them go and watch them dig down in the wet sand.
Spotted on Jul 23, 2011
Submitted on Jul 27, 2011
3 Comments
I love their variation in colors, I have a whole bowl of their shells from beach combing around Galveston. I'm not sure about eating them. ;)
When I was a kid in Florida the Coquinas were abundant. We used to gather tons of them for my friends mom to make Coquina soup. They do seem to be making a bit of a comeback on Siesta Key. Fond memories
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augusti...
Coquina was used in St. Augustine, FLorida by the settlers to build a fort. Parts of the wall around the part still stand today, and parts of the original wall. The tour guide said they would mash the Coquina shells with sand and it dried into the walls.