Where rare star-shaped sand can be found on Planet Earth

It's incredibly rare but there are a handful of beaches on Planet Earth where star-shaped sand can be found.

Sand on three islands south of Japan, on Iriomote, Hatoma, and Taketomi, all have the usual fragments of shell and rock but among all that, tiny cream-coloured stars can be seen, reports IFL Science.

While these little stars look incredibly unique and cute, they're actually the remnants of a species called Baclogypsina sphaerulata.

These organisms were first found in 1860 and called something completely different; they belong to an ancient group of protozoans, which are single-celled organisms that nibble on organic matter, called Foraminifera.

Baclogypsina sphaerulata is thought to have been around for 540 million years and it is one of an estimated 4,000 living forams.

As these organisms drift in the sea, they collect calcium carbonate which they use to build shells which form a load of different shapes.

These shapes range from blob-like masses to those with more rather intricate details and included within that are spectrum are stars.

When the forams die, these shells remain though and they settle on the seafloor.

Much like sand, they wash up on beaches and that's what's happened on the Iriomote, Hatoma, and Taketomi islands.

Despite the scientific explanation, Japanese folklore has a rather different take on things.

The story goes that the Southern Cross and North Star made little star babies which lived in the sea off the coast of these islands but were killed by a giant sea serpent with only their skeletons remaining which washed up on the beaches.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Foraminifera can give scientists clues about the age of rocks and ancient climates to figure out what our planet was like millions and millions of years ago.

Sand is absolutely not allowed to be taken by people from these beaches.

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