19.-
Key West, A beach without seaweed
If you have time, walk
toward the sun, west along the beach at Long Key State Park.
Keep going. Now go a little farther until you reach this
sign (No trespassing). The water is public property, but the
sand in this location is private property. It is an
interesting situation. If you want to see what the white
coral sand looks like without the seaweed on it, this is it!
Coral sand is ground to small pieces by wave action, rubbing
broken pieces of coral against other coral, but a major
contributor is the parrot fish, which grinds the coral
structure to find the animal inside the coral that makes the
calcium shell. The coral needs sunlight because the animal's
main food supply is the algae that grow around the
structure. To see all of this, visit the Museum of Discovery
and Science (MODS) in Fort Lauderdale, near the Riverfront
area and Las Olas Blvd. Well, let's continue our drive.
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