What is that on the beach?

Mostly, the beach here is stunningly beautiful. White sand, gorgeous water, mostly wonderful and that is what I dwell on for the most part. Still, on several occasions walking along the beach I have seen some things that have alarmed me because my imagination can often turn the most innocent thing into a sinister weapon of evil. It's not easy living with this mind but after so many years, I have learned to calm down and do a little research before I tell everyone the sky is falling. Most the time I practice the 95% rule...well I try to.

So here are some things that originally scared me but now, not so much. Well there is one thing that still scares me but most of them are naturally occurring and not likely to harm you. I plan on doing more research on each of these items but for now here they are...

Fish Egg Casing

This stuff did not scare me but sometimes there is a lot of it and I always wondered what made this colorful salad looking stuff. Somebody somewhere probably thinks of it as a dining delicacy. 

Sea Slug

These things are ugly. They wash up on shore and then they will die and turn into something equally as ugly. But I hear this is a natural occurrence and they are not parts of a chewed up mutant sea monster as I had originally thought.

Sand Flea or Coquina Poo?

Now these little black things could be coquina poo or sand flea poo but whichever creature poos them is not important to me. I am just happy they do not smell and they are not some horrible result of global warming. 

Tar balls?

I'm not sure what this is but I run into it sometimes and it does feel oily. Might be from the 2010 disaster, current rig leaks, or it might be from the stuff that comes up naturally. I can't help but notice it because of the stark contrast with the white sand but whatever it is I wouldn't pick it up and play with it.

June Bloom

Not very much on the beach this year yet and we are well into June. Can I hear a hallelujah! Still it will come to shore, it always does and I have not heard a good explanation for what June Bloom really is. I have read stories about it showing up in large quantities on the British Isles as well. Too bad we can't use it for fuel.

Sargasso
"Finding Nemo" is one place to learn about this seaweed.

I kind of like Sargasso. I've seen it on all the Florida beaches and if you see it in the water floating there are always marine life hanging around it. Sometimes there is a lot of it and yes, that makes it a challenge to get out to the clear water. I've seen it so thick on the beach people have shoveled it like snow. But it seems good for the shore...something the sand can hang onto.

Plastic and wedding debris
Trash on the beach...colorful but destructive.

I like to call this picture two weddings and a sand castle. It is representative of both. They are both nice things but when you leave your trash on the beach it can be deadly to other creatures. "They know not what they do" but I pick-up more trash than I like to. I'm thinking of starting a "Keep it Clean" club.