Spore Building - Fossil Crinoid PNG

A class of Echinoderms, crinoids (also known as sea lilies, feather stars or comatulids) are found in the oceans of the present day, in a variety of habitats ranging from coral reefs to deep, dark waters. They can be either stalked or stalk-less in their adult forms.

Crinoids have been around since at least the Ordovician, and have a long and rich history in the fossil record. Some crinoids, such as Pentacrinites, seem to have lived in colonies attached to floating driftwood. In 2006, orange and yellow organic molecules were extracted from a 350 million year old crinoid by doctoral student Christina O'Malley of Ohio State University, making them the oldest known organic molecules ever found in a fossil.
Crinoids are also the state fossil of Missouri in the United States.


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