City Science Kids Reporting from the Beach!

In summer, when we're lucky enough to quit the city and head to the beach, we spend a lot of time hunting for treasures in the sand. On city beaches, we find mostly mussel and clam shells, some snails, jelly fish, and lots and lots of seaweed. A little farther afield we find these—we collected these yesterday:

These weird, stiff black puffs are actually skate pods. They're the (hopefully) hatched (and not eaten) eggs of sea creatures called skates, which are related to sharks and rays. The mother skate lays embryos on the sea floor; these cases develop around them to protect them until they mature. One pod = one baby skate.

Have you found any unusual creatures on the beach this summer?