Codiacrinus schultzei
18x20 cm (Matrix), 15 cm (fossil)
found and prepared by W. Südkamp
Bundenbach, Grube Obereschenbach
Hapalocrinus elegans
9.5 cm (Fossil)_20x15 cm (Matrix)
Bundenbach, Grube Obereschenbach
Taxocrinus n.sp. (rootsystem)
21 cm (Fossil)_24x20 cm (Matrix)
Bundenbach, Grube Obereschenbach
Taxocrinus stuertzii
11 cm (Fossil)_13x14 cm (Matrix)
Bundenbach, Grube Obereschenbach
Hapalocrinus elegans
17 cm (Fossil)_26x22 cm (Matrix)
Bundenbach, Grube Obereschenbach
Parisangulocrinus zeaeformis colony
20 cm (Fossil)_24x21.5 cm (Matrix)
Bundenbach, Grube Obereschenbach
Parisangulocrinus zeaeformis, Eospondylus primigenius
15.5x13cm
Hapalocrinus frechi
(11 cm), Matrix 25.5x19 cm
Parisangulocrinus furcaxialis
6.5x8.5cm
Rhenocrinus ramosus
23x19 cm, Grube Herrenberg
n.sp., Gastrocrinus giganteus
35x16 cm
Rhenocrinus ramosus
16x11 cm, Grube Herrenberg
Bactrocrinites jaekeli
16.5x10cm
Thallocrinus procerus
29x12 cm
Bactrocrinites, Hapalocrinus, Imitatocrinus
14.5x14 cm
Hapalocrinus frechi , Gastrocrinus giganteus
34x34 cm
Follicrinus grabei
22 x20 cm
Parisangulocrinus zaeformis
17x11 cm
Codiacrinus schultzei
23x21.5 cm
Codiacrinus schultzei
23x13.5 cm
Rhenocystis latipedunculata
13x10 cm
Crinoids are sometimes referred to as Sea Lillies because of their resemblance to a plant or flower. In parts of England, the columnals forming the stem are called fairy money, and star-shaped examples of these were associated with the sun by ancient peoples, and given religious significance. Robert Plot (1640—1696) named these stellate forms star stones.
Crinoids are marine animals belonging to the Phylum Echinodermata and the Class Crinoidea. An array of branching arms (brachia) is arranged around the top of a globe-shaped, cup-like structure (calyx) containing the main body of the animal. In many fossil forms the calyx was attached to a flexible stem that was anchored to the sea bed.
The skeleton is made of the mineral calcite, and consists of hundreds of individual plates of different shapes and sizes. Decay of the soft tissue that held many of these plates together means that complete specimens are rare, but parts of the stem are common fossils.
The first true Crinoids appeared during the Lower Ordovician. Following the global mass extinction at the Silurian boundary, they and underwent several major radiations at the early Devonian, Missisippian (peak) and Pennsylvanian. They almost became extinct at the end of Paleozoic Era in the Permian, but recovered to flourish again during the Mesozoic, in the Triassic and Jurassic (Lias, Dogger, Malm). Decreasing numbers in the Cretaceous, fossil record of crinoids rare in the Tertiary. More than 6,000 fossil species, belonging to more than 800 genera, have been described.
Crinoids can very basically be described as upside-down starfish with a stems. The stem of a crinoid extends down from what would be the top of a starfish, leaving the mouth of the organism opening skyward, with the arms splayed out. However, crinoid arms look articulated and feathery. The stalk extends down from the aboral surface of the calyx. The stalk column has holdfasts which attach the animal to substrate.
Today, approximately 600 living species are known; most free-living feather stars or comatulids living in the shallow seas. About 80 species of stalked sea lilies are restricted to the deeper water of today```s ocean.
