Wildlife photographer Brianna Varner wasn’t expecting anything extraordinary when she and her boyfriend visited Pass-a-Grille Beach in Florida last year. The coastline had recently been battered by storms, and like many nature lovers, Varner was curious to see what the waves might have left behind. Beaches after rough weather are often sprinkled with unusual treasures — shells, driftwood, and sometimes mysterious objects from the ocean’s depths.
As she combed through the scattered debris, something unusual caught her eye. At first glance, it looked like a dried, crumpled leaf lying among the sand and seaweed. But when she bent down and picked it up, the texture didn’t match what her eyes had told her. It wasn’t soft or fragile like a leaf — it was firm, rubbery, and oddly shaped.
“I was just kind of staring at it, thinking, ‘This doesn’t look quite right,’” Varner recalled in an interview. It took her a moment to realize she was holding a mermaid’s purse — the common nickname for the egg cases of sharks, stingrays, and skates. These protective casings are usually deposited on the ocean floor, where they remain anchored until the embryo is ready to hatch.
A Discovery Beneath The Sunlight
Most of the time, when people find mermaid’s purses washed ashore, they are long empty, their tiny inhabitants having already made their way into the ocean. But this one felt different. Its shape was plump and rounded, its ends sealed tightly. Out of curiosity, Varner lifted it toward the sunlight.
What she saw made her breath catch — inside the translucent casing, a faint shape wriggled. A living embryo.
“I could see a little life moving around in there,” she said. “That’s when I realized this wasn’t just an interesting shell or object. It was something alive.”
Knowing that the delicate egg case would not survive if left exposed on the sand, Varner carefully placed it into a tide pool tucked safely under rocks, hoping the cool water would give the developing creature a chance to survive. That small act of compassion soon turned into a pattern for the rest of her beach walk.
As she explored further, she discovered six or seven more mermaid’s purses scattered along the shoreline. Each one she found, she gently relocated to tide pools, ensuring they wouldn’t dry out under the blazing Florida sun.
The Surprise Of A Lifetime
Her final discovery, however, was unlike the rest. This mermaid’s purse felt strangely rigid, almost solid compared to the leathery texture of the others. When she held it against the sun, no light passed through. She puzzled over it for a moment, then carefully carried it toward the water.
That’s when something extraordinary happened.
“As I was holding it, I felt movement — real, strong movement,” Varner remembered. “And then suddenly, I looked down, and this tiny little mouth was staring back at me. I was shocked. I thought, ‘What am I even looking at?’”
Before she could fully process the moment, the egg case split open in her hands. A tiny clearnose skate, perfectly formed and alive, began to push its way out. In a matter of seconds, the fragile creature emerged completely, wriggling as if it had been waiting for that very moment.
With waves crashing nearby, Varner feared the newborn might be overwhelmed too soon. So she waded into deeper water, cradling the baby gently until she felt confident it had a fighting chance. She then lowered it into the sea, where instinct immediately took over.
“It just dropped to the sand, exactly what its instincts would tell it to do,” she said. “It was such a surreal, powerful moment — I thought, ‘Oh my God, I think it’s going to be OK.’”
A Lesson From The Ocean
For Varner, the experience was far more than just a lucky encounter; it was a reminder of how easily humans can overlook the fragile life hidden all around us. Many people might have tossed aside or even destroyed the mysterious “leaflike” cases without realizing their importance.
“There are so many things we find on beaches that we don’t recognize as alive or significant,” Varner explained. “But every little piece can hold a story, or even a life, waiting to begin.”
After doing some research, she confirmed that the tiny hatchling she had witnessed was indeed a clearnose skate, a species found in coastal waters of the western Atlantic. To her, it was an honor to have been present for its very first moments of life.
As a keepsake, Varner decided to hold onto the empty mermaid’s purse from which the baby skate had emerged — a small, leathery reminder of a chance encounter that turned a casual beach walk into one of the most unforgettable experiences of her life.
