This specimen is a fossilized sand dollar come from Pliocene Epoch deposits (c. 5,000,000 years old) in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. It is a remnant of a time when the valley was home to an inland sea seated between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the California Coast Ranges.

The specimen comes in a classic, glass-topped riker box case measuring 4 x 3 x 1". A small information card is also included. To protect the specimen, we've put each sand dollar in a small bubble wrap bag inside the case.

Sand dollars are echinoderms, an ancient and broad family of animals which includes starfish, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins.

Like most echinoderms, this species, Dendraster gibbisii, exhibits a five-point radial symmetry which is reflected in the patterns on the surface of the fossil.