Crinoid Fossil Plate Specimen D

Crinoids are fascinating examples of our oceans mysterious past and, perhaps, one of the more intriguing fossils we carry.  Because many crinoids resemble flowers, with their cluster of waving arms atop a long stem, they’ve been nicknamed “sea lilies”. But crinoids are not plants. They are members of a phylum of sea creatures known as Echinodermata, which means "spiny skin." Other examples of non-extinct echinoderms include sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, and starfish. Like their modern day living relatives, crinoids lived on the ancient sea floor filtering the water for their food. Crinoids emerged in the fossil record over 541,000,000 years ago which, when you really think about it, is an insanely long time ago.  The Devonian is known as "The Age of Fishes" but crinoids actually became more widespread during the Mississippian Age around 347-325 million years ago. The Mississippian Age is when crinoids reached their apex and blanketed the floors of the ancient shallow seas.