Crinoid

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Crinoid

Entry/Object ID

2011.57.64

Description

Description: Phylum: Echinodermata Class: Crinoidea Common Name: Sea Lily Age: Silurian Location: Morocco, Africa Description: Very detailed crinoid (whole) covering most of matrix rock. Some smaller stems laying across plume. Matrix is a dull, fine grained reddish-brown with some tan. Fossil is primarily black. Physical Characteristics: Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea of the echinoderms (phylum Echinodermata). Crinoidea comes from the Greek word krinon, "a lily", and eidos, "form".[1] They live both in shallow water and in depths as great as 6,000 meters.[citation needed] Sea lilies refer to the crinoids which, in their adult form, are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk.[2] Feather stars[3] or comatulids[4] refer to the unstalked forms.Crinoids are characterized by a mouth on the top surface that is surrounded by feeding arms. They have a U-shaped gut, and their anus is located next to the mouth. Although the basic echinoderm pattern of fivefold symmetry can be recognized, most crinoids have many more than five arms. Crinoids usually have a stem used to attach themselves to a substrate, but many live attached only as juveniles and become free-swimming as adults.There are only a few hundred known modern forms, but crinoids were much more numerous both in species and numbers in the past. Some thick limestone beds dating to the mid- to late-Paleozoic are almost entirely made up of disarticulated crinoid fragments. Kingdom: Animalia (Animals) Class: Crinoidea Phylum: Echinodermata

Collection

Museum Collection of Fossils

Acquisition

Accession

2011.57

Source or Donor

Museum Collection of Fossils

Acquisition Method

Long-term Loan

Dimensions

Width

5-1/2 in

Depth

3/4 in

Length

9-3/4 in

Location

Location

Room

Fossil Room

Building

Crater Rock Museum

Category

Exhibit