Crinoids

Crinoids are lovely and graceful-looking sea creatures that resemble fern-like plants but are really animals.  Commonly called sea lilies, they’re Echinoderms, relatives of sea urchins and starfish, and they are one of Nature’s success stories, having been around for 530 million years. Ancient Crinoids sported feathery arms sprouting from a stalk anchored on the ocean floor, while their modern descendants mostly don’t have stalks. Their soft , filter-feeding bodies are supported by a framework calcium carbonate segments called ossicles, and it’s the ossicles that you see in these fossils. These are such fun stones, with a Mardi Gras of entertaining images sprinkled like confetti through every piece. All have satin-finish backs. And no, even though it might look like it, Crinoids don’t have teeth!