what are these sandbar creatures???

What are these jelly-like creatures on the sandbar that you see at low-tide. They almost look like sea urchins, but they are clear. I%26#39;m sure they%26#39;re there all the time, but we can really see them when the water is low. Will they sting if stepped on? I think I saw one today lose in the water. It was round.

Thanks!

what are these sandbar creatures???

ick - it sounds like a cannonball jellyfish. This variety does not have a sting strong enough to bother humans. They wash up on the beaches. Color varies. There are stinging varieties around the islands as well, usually in summer months. I could be wrong but I do not believe the infamous %26#39;man of war%26#39; come into the area as they live in the Atlantic.

Maybe one of the locals will know better than I do.

what are these sandbar creatures???

This has never been more than an unattractive nuisance on the Gulf beaches.

Not like Man-of-War or the infamous evil blue rings of Australia.

They arve called sea cucumbers. they attach themselves to the sand and have tentacles on them. They are always present. At low tide they extend their tentacles to obtain food. When the sand bar is completely exposed they kind of retract into the sand and look like ';blobs'; of jelly. They are completely harmless

Thank you! My kiddos were getting a little freaked out by them. I told them I thought they were harmless, but you never know.

They%26#39;re really cool!

There are Man of war Jellyfish in sanibel. I was stung by one years ago when I was swimming near the sand bar. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I thought I was bitten by a big shark!

I did a little research on man-of-war and learned , among other things, they aren%26#39;t really jelly fish. hummmmmm It does, however, have have a presence in the Gulf of Mexico. There are a whole bunch of other stinging jelly fish [and man-of-war will still be a jellyfish to me] that sting as well.

There may be stinging ';jellyfish'; in the gulf, but they are rare. When I stayed on Florida%26#39;s east coast ( had to, my in-laws lived there) there were whole weeks where we couldn%26#39;t go in the water at all because of Man of Wars. So Sanibel has the huge advantage there- as well as in every way , over any other part of Florida, IMHO.