Crinoids – (cry-noid ; cry-noids)
The first Crinoids appear in the fossil record 450 million years ago, and there are still crinoids alive today!
While live crinoids look like flowers (sometimes they’re called “Sea Lilies”) they are really animals related to starfish and sea urchins.
Animals in this family are called “Echinoderms” (that means “spiny skin) and have what is called “five fold symmetry“. Where you have two arms and legs, an echinoderm like a starfish has five, and some crinoids have 50!
It is uncommon to find the head or arms of a crinoid, but the stem segments are very common.
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