Hidden away on the remote island of Iriomote in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, you can find the small be

Hidden away on the remote island of Iriomote in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, you can find the small beach of Hoshizuna no Hama. The name translates to “star sand beach” accredited to the star shaped sand like formations that can be found there. The star shapes are the exoskeletons of a tiny one-celled organism, barely a millimetre across, called Baclogypsina sphaerulata. These protozoa have 5 or 6 pointed arms that help them move from place to place and accumulate some of the diatoms which they eat. The outer shell is made of calcium carbonate, and when they die, they leave their star shaped exoskeleton behind to be washed up on the beaches.