Sea Pearls in scallop
Have you ever found a SEA BEAN? Well, they really aren’t “beans” but are seeds of plants from around the world that get carried into rivers then to oceans then wash up on beaches. There are almost one hundred different types of SEA BEANS but the kind we find on Sanibel are called SEA PEARLS.
Sea Beans in Scallop close up
I first heard about SEA BEANS last year after seeing a collection by our beach combing friends Mary and Dick.
Sea Bean Collection by Mary and Dick
Sea Beans drift onto beaches around the world, particularly after higher than normal tides with sea weed and drift wood just like I found this one pictured below. So if I don’t find many shells (like today) I always have sea beans to look for.
Sea Bean on the beach
Today I found this one and a few others at the Lighthouse beach….. and guess who Clark and I ran into…CShells!
CShells and Richard enjoying their scoops
Just a reminder to come see me at the Captiva Holiday Village Dec 4, 10, 11 and 12, 2010 
Hello Pam, You Lucky Beachcombing, Girl You!
Having just returned from a 11 day trip, I’ve been catching up on all your beautiful pictures and commentary… I just love the pictures and videos and I learn something new every time…. plus, it’s “almost” like being there. I had heard of sea beans, but didn’t have a clue they could be found on Sanibel. I do think I’ve found an angel wing or 2, but will have to double check my collection.
What a thrill to know we will be on Sanibel in person for the Shellabration! We will be sure and take in the events of December 11th. My husband and I and our dear friends are spending a week at the Tarpon Beach Club Condos from Dec 4th to 11th. Hope to see you at Chadwicks (I must find out where that is!) and get one of your tee shirts…hope to see you on the beach.
P.S. Please save me a wormy…I love them!
love the sae pearls…..I have a friend whose husband made a necklace for her….on the days the tide is high…….I look for them….
I love your blog….and you notecards :)
A necklace… great idea! and THANK YOU for your sweet comment on my notecards too
Oh,,,,,thank you again for a lovely sea shell lesson, and walk on the beach….
it is so nice to have actual real time info from my dream vacation…which I will get
to one of these days…..
So many interesting things wash up. I found a very large, brown pod awhile back. Unfortunately it ended up in my bleach water & had pretty much disintegrated into a pile of goo when I realized my mistake. I hadn’t realized it was so fresh; it looked dehydrated even tho wet. I assume now that such things should be set aside & left to desiccate? Can you share the correct way to preserve a seed?
Hi Dtts- go to the link I have in the post to see more info on sea beans. i’ve bolded and highlighted words that have a link. It’s so interesting!
Wow, so much information, thanks! I was unable to identify my seed… general appearance was most like a sea heart, but shaped like a giant lima bean (about 4.5″ long). A very nice mahoghany color, rather smooth. It looked familiar… like something you’d find in a large mix of dried pods, etc. so it’s probably common (somewhere) but I’ve never seen one on the beach.
As it disintegrated, it’s fibers were exposed. Stupid me, tossed it without thinking. From what I gleaned exploring the site, setting it aside to dry out is pretty much the way to go before polishing… silica gel maybe, if there’s more than one to experiment with. I wouldn’t want to chance shriveling a really big one.
Thanks for the insight!
There was so much info on the link site, right? I could have stayed in there for days researching. Glad you identified your seed…. and now you’ll probably find another next time since you know to look for the pattern
Oh & I found a gentleman with a blog called Beach Beans. http://beachbeans.blogspot.com Looking at photos of his sea hearts, I’m beginning to think perhaps what I found was an oddly shaped one.
Sea pearls are the seed from the nickerbean plant. Google the word nickerbean for images of the plant and seeds. This plant is very important to the rare Miami Blue butterfly.
I googled it- Cool! Thanks for that info. I linked a website in my post to seabeans.com and they have a wealth of info there too.
We have a collection of sea pearls we found in 2005. They were in the back of the house we stayed in! Haven’t seen many since. Do you think they washed up that high after hurricane Charlie? They were pretty far back from the water!
You are probably right… Charley brought in so many goodies in the high tides. Those were incredible shelling days… not that I would ever wish for another hurricane. So much destruction.
These look like some I collected from a plant at Cayo Costa. The plant was very thorny and had finely divided leaves. The Ranger told me what it was (it was growing near where you get on/off the boat. I do not remember the name, but I bet if you contact the Ranger station there they can tell you. It is a bean (legume) alright.
These are called Burnin’ Beans by the local kids of yesteryear-they would rub them hard on their jeans and put them on someone’s skin-they get quite hot from the friction.
Leave it to kids to find a way to use anything to create havoc!
Roger
It was nice seeing you and meeting Clark. OK where did Clark hide the wentletraps? We found a big 0. Yesterday I had someone notice my Crocs match my scoop. Heading back to the Lighthouse beach, maybe I’ll have to start looking for sea pearls.
Just discovered your site and love it! I am in Islamorada in the Keys and across the street from Sea Oats beach where I beachcomb. It has been called “Money Beach” because there were shipwrecks off this shore and treasures have been found. I haven’t been lucky yet but this coral beach has lots of conchs, miniatures, sea beans of all sorts of findings. We would love to swap our place for one on Sanibel or Captiva for a few days this winter if anyone is interested.
Barbara