Crinoid fossils trivia
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The term crinoid refers to an extant living class of echinoderms. These animals, commonly known as “sea lilies” and “feather stars”, have a long history. They first appear in the fossil record in marine sediments deposited approximately 530 million years ago during the Cambrian period. Stemmed forms are called sea lilies because of their superficial resemblance to flowers. These stemmed crinoids became abundant in the middle Ordovician period, 470 million years ago, and flourished in the shallow inland seas of the Paleozoic Era. The class Crinoidea is placed within the phylum Echinodermata. Echinoderms are spiny-skinned, exclusively marine organisms whose bodies can usually be divided into five parts around a central axis. They possess calcareous plates or ossicles, ambulacral (food) grooves and a water vascular system with tube feet. In addition to the Crinoidea, there are four extant classes within the Echinodermata: the Asteroidea (starfish), )Ophiuroidea (brittle stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins) and Holothuroidea I sea cucumbers.
Crinoids are filter feeders. Most crinoids obtain their nutrition by spreading their feeding arms to sieve the passing sea water for microscopic organisms and detritus. Mucus, on the tube feet located on each pinnule, ensnares the prey. The food is then flung into a ciliated groove on the pinnule. Beating cilia convey the food down the ambulacral grooves on the arms. The ambulacral (food) grooves continue on to the calyx and finally converge on the mouth where the food enters the digestive tract
Crinoids are marine animals. They are generally gregarious, often living in groups of several thousand individuals. Feather stars swim through the water or crawl along the ocean floor in search of food. They often use rocks, corals or sponges to raise themselves above the bottom during their nocturnal feeding and hide in nooks and crannies during the day. Feather stars are found in shallow and deep ocean waters but are most diverse in tropical reef environments. Sea lilies live permanently attached to the substrate or ocean floor and today are restricted to depths greater than 100 meters. In Paleozoic times stemmed crinoids inhabited continental shelves and shallow inland seas.
This crinoid fossil was found in the Sahara desert in Morocco and it dates back to the Devonian period about 350 million yrs ago.