✨ Shelling Spotlight: Sea Biscuits! 🐚

If you’ve ever found a round, puffy-looking shell, you might have discovered a sea biscuit! These fascinating creatures are close relatives of sand dollars and sea urchins, all part of the echinoid family.

Group of Sea Biscuits found snorkeling the shallows in the Florida Keys. All found in the lower keys near grassy flats in the sand.

😱 What are they?

Sea biscuits are marine animals with a rigid, rounded skeleton called a test, once covered in soft tissue and short spines. When they die, their skeletons may wash ashore or rest just under the sand.

You can see how the Sea Biscuit is shaped like an actual biscuit unlike flat Sand Dollars.

🤜💥🤛 Sea Biscuit vs. Sand Dollar:

Sea biscuits are thicker, harder, and noticeably heavier than sand dollars. Their domed shape and solid structure help them burrow into sand, while sand dollars are flatter and more fragile.

Florida Sea Biscuits found snorkeling in the Florida Keys.

📍 Where to find them in Florida:

You can spot sea biscuits on East Coast beaches, in tidal pools, and while snorkeling in the Florida Keys! They love calm, sandy bottoms - keep an eye out near grassy flats too. Some have found them even on the Gulf Coast.

🤿 Snorkeling Tip:

In the Keys, gently explore sandy patches. If a sea biscuit is brown and fuzzy, it’s alive. If you find a live one, keep looking you’ll most likely find a dead one in the area as well. Predators that prey on them: lobsters, pufferfish, triggerfish, crabs and octopuses to name a few.

Check out these perfect Sea Biscuits!

✨ Pro Tip:

The most collectible sea biscuits are white, clean, and free of cracks. Rinse in freshwater and let them dry out naturally in the sun or soak in a 100% bleach bath overnight. We like to leave the broken teeth and sand inside the sea biscuits as it adds a bit more “story” to the collectible. 😊

Happy shelling everyone! 👣🏝️

-Rob and Raquel

FloridaShellingFanatics.com