This delicate shell is quite common along the southeast coast of hte United States. Other varieties are found in California, South Carolina, Florida and elsewhere.
Thanks to Monica for the card.
"Sand dollars — sometimes called sea cookies, snapper biscuits, sand cakes, cake urchins or pansy shells — are species of flat, burrowing echinoids that belong to the order Clypeasteroida. Sand dollars are related to sea urchins, sea cucumbers and starfish.
Sand dollars get their name, not from their value, but from their appearance. When the skeletons (called tests) of dead sand dollars wash ashore, they are usually bright white from being bleached by the Sun. Long ago, people who found these dead sand dollars thought they looked like old Spanish or American dollar coins, so they called them sand dollars
When sand dollars are alive, they live in shallow coastal waters along the sandy ocean floor. Unlike the white color of dead sand dollars, live sand dollars are usually green, purple or blue. Some people think live sand dollars look like fuzzy cookies!" Source
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