alan
you wrote
white cased marine organism which looks like a limp blanched thick
spaghetti noodle were there by the thousands which squished water when you
stepped on
them (does anyone know what they are?).
we found many of these tubes on the flats in goodland, our intrepid captian
told us they were parchment worms?? sounded good as they did resemble
rolled parchment paper. our captian did warn that the animal is rather
short tempered and has the tendency to lurch out of it's home with two
needle like pincers which it will bury into a proding finger.....the
warning kept me out of the worm tubes as this captian was the same to warn
me about "brissel worms"..
as for what you found at sanibel maybe this is a sign that the few years of
the live shelling ban has resulted in a small but significant comeback of
sorts....i once read a paper by Dr. Tucker Abbott who discribed the great
finds he made in blind pass. i didn't heed his warnings about the sticky
goo that comprises the mud flat and a mile walk was the workout of a
lifetime....i never found the great numbers of  shells but i did have the
oppertunity to watch a fasciolaria tulipa at about 130mm go trucking along,
fun how interesting they are when all you can do is watch and not collect.
it was tempting but the law is the law and i don't need a five hundred
dollar tulip,,,,i don't think i could tag that on to the resale price do
you.....ferreter {mark}