Looking out across the water you could watch as brown pelicans soared looking for their next meal
Watching the waves come crashing down on the long, slowly-rising beach of the Atlantic coast of Florida is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I took this photo at 6:45am one morning in June. The waves were lightly cresting that day and then making the long journey up the flat beach. You could walk thirty feet out into the water and still only be in water up to your ankles.
As the sun started to rise, the coolness of the ocean water contrasted with the quickly rising temperature of the day. Looking out across the water you could watch as brown pelicans soared looking for their next meal. Hoping to see a pod of dolphins, I would keep my eyes darting along the top of the water. With luck I would see them spritely coming up to the surface for a breath of the warm morning air.
As the water came and went with each wave, hundreds of coquinas would be washed up with it. Coquinas are also known as Donax, chip chip, chipi chipi, tumbar, and many other names. Coquinas are a type of bivalve. More specifically they are saltwater clams. They live in the swash zone, which is the turbulent section of water that washes up on the beach after a wave has crashed. When you see them exposed on the surface of the sand, know that this was not intentional. They prefer to be vertically aligned in the sand where they will filter feed for phytoplankton.
Coquinas tend to be quite small. You can find them at smaller than a quarter inch with mature lengths across their species ranging from three quarters of an inch to one and a half inches. They vary significantly in color: brown, purple, blue, yellow, green, white, orange, red, and pink are all described across the species.
Coquinas are a type of bivalve--more specifically they are saltwater clams
Did you know?
- Coquinas are edible. There are many soup recipes described for them.
- There are fifty described species of Donax.
- Coquinas have siphons which allow them to dig into the sand or mud.
- The Donax variabilis can be found from Key West to New Jersey along the Atlantic coast. If you’ve ever seen a coquina on the Atlantic coast of Florida, this was most likely the species (although there are more species that are distributed through Florida).
- Coquina is also the name of the sedimentary rock that is made up of crushed shells.
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