August 15, 2015
On this very gray day here at the north end of Naviti Island, Fiji, we got out to the beach and found it covered with these tiny, round, flat shells – each with a hole in the center.
When I saw the first one, I showed it to Cyndi and told her that if I could find about a million more I could make her a necklace. Little did I know that billions wouldn’t have been a problem. The glowing streaks on the beach in the picture below are millions of these shells.
I spent about an hour with my friend Google, but she couldn’t tell me what they are. I think they might be some kind of algae or plant skeleton. If you know, please tell us. -Rich
Update: December 2, 2024
Thanks to the great detective work of Caroline, we now know what these are: Marginopora vertebralis. Linked is a Wikipedia article about these single cell animals.
