Kelly Peay, age 91, of Richmond, Va., for her question:

CAN YOU TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT THE SAND DOLLAR?

Sea cookie is another name for the sand dollar, a spiny skinned animal that is an echinoderm. It belongs to the same group as the sea urchins and starfish.

The sand dollar can be found in just about every ocean. It is round with a hard, flat outer covering and can grow to be about four inches wide.

Sand dollars can be dark gray or purplish brown. They spend most of their lives lying partly buried in ocean sand. Slight movement is possible because the creature is provided by hundreds of tiny spines and minute tube feet. These feet project from the openings in a five pointed star that is found on one side.

The sand dollar's mouth is in the middle of the flatter side of the shell. It swallows the organic material it finds in sand.