Image of Mellita tenuis H. L. Clark 1940

Description:

These sand dollars virtually paved the surf zone offshore just below the low tide level. This large individual is 12 cm (4 in) in diameter. Innumerable smaller individuals (2 to 4 cm diam.) were abundant under foot in that zone. Numbers of them washed ashore after a strong rainstorm. This is likely to be Mellita tenuis which was originally described from off of Sanibel Island, but I don't know if M. quinquiesperforata also occurs here. M. tenuis was originally described as a subspecies of the latter.