(http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/factfiles/starfish_urchins/purple_sea_urchin_bg.shtml)
sarasota beaches and other nearby areas have previously been under health advisories because of the high bacteria count in the water. (http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080718/ARTICLE/807180355)
are urchins lying dead in the thousands on siesta beach because of polluted gulf waters?here's some wikipedia info about urchins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_urchin
still trying to find out more...
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today super snark and i rode our bikes on the beach at low tide. in addition to the sea urchins, we got to see beautiful brown pelicans diving into the water, dolphins swimming very close to shore, a fantastic variety of shells (some of our favorites are sharks eye and coral), sea sponges (dead). there was some interesting people watching, such as two amish women putting sunblock on (just) their ankles, an old frowny man in a turquoise speedo, and a little boy chasing the terns and gulls (see photo to the right as they escape once again). 
super snark had a thought about all the sea urchins. we had a storm at the beginning of the week. that could be why they're all washed up on shore. makes sense. BUT are there always that many dead sea urchins drifting in the ocean water? maybe it's a combination of pollution and natural occurrence via storm...
it's still worth keeping in mind how absent mindedly humans contribute to polluting the ocean. for example, the great pacific garbage patch is an overwhelming vortex of trash that exists in the pacific ocean... see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch for more info. or on a much smaller scale: we saw two boys practicing golf on the beach, driving the golf balls into the ocean.
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