But what am I?

• My common name is Star sand
• But I’m not really sand
• I am the remains (shells) of animals called forams short for foraminifera
• Other forams have different shapes, one is a circle with a hole in the middle

Want to know more?

Forams are:

• Tiny little animals
• The star shaped bits we find in the sand are their shells (tests)
• They are made of just one cell
• Most live on the bottom of the ocean
• These ones are found on algae, rocks and reefs
• They catch tiny bits of food on sticky threads
• They get eaten by sea snails and sea urchins

Why are they called forams?

• They got their name from the holes they have between the chambers of their shells
• The 3-dimensional star shaped shells are really interesting to look at up close

What happens if you look closer?

• Notice they are 3 dimensional in shape
• They also have dots on them

What if you look even closer?

• Can you see the lines joining up the dots
• These let water flow through into the chambers inside the test carrying food for the animal inside