19/10/2022
One of the rarest forms of sand, star sand, is both a beautiful sight and a scientific marvel. Found on the Taketomi, Hatoma, and Iriomote islands of Japan, star sand is exactly what the name implies — small, millimeter-sized pieces of sand in the shape of stars. At first glance, the beaches look like any other. Only when visitors take a closer look at the beach they stand on does it become clear that this is no ordinary sand. Despite the small size of the sand particles, beach-goers have no problem seeing this incredible five-pointed star shape with the naked eye.
Unlike most beaches, the sand on Hoshizuna Beach and other surrounding Japanese beaches is made up not of rocks and minerals, but rather of the remnants of previous organisms. Each little star is the exoskeleton of small, single-celled organisms known as Foraminifera.
As the waves roll in on the beach, the water carries with it the shells and exoskeletons of these tiny organisms, constructing the unique shoreline. This particular, star-shaped species of Foraminifera, known as Baculogypsina sphaerulata, is found only in the coral reefs of East Asia, making this special sand shape one of the rarest in the world.