Crinoid Crown and Calyx in Matrix, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Description

Crinoid Crown and Calyx in Matrix,
Crawfordsville, Indiana
Crinoids are echinoderms of the class Crinoidea. Often called Sea Lilies for their flower like appearance they are in fact, animals. They are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars. Their anatomy consists of a stem and calyx. The calyx is a cup like structure that contains the internal organs. Branching arms called brachials extend from the calyx to filter food from the water column. Most live fixed to the bottom but a number of species are able to crawl or swim. Many crinoid traits are like other members of their phylum. Such traits include tube feet, radial symmetry, a water vascular system, and appendages in multiples of five (pentameral). There are 800 genera of crinoids containing 6000 species. They first appeared in the Ordovician (488 million years ago) and some species are still alive today.
Crawfordsville, Indiana is world renown for producing some of the most spectacular crinoid fossils on the planet. There are more than 60 different species known from the Lower Mississippian (~340 million year old) Edwardsville Formation. These crinoids, when properly prepared, are preserved in beautiful, three-dimensional relief against the surrounding matrix.
This exquisite, one-of-a-kind three dimensional "mortality sculpture" presents a beautifully preserved crown and calyx of Onychocrinus exculptus, a member of the Flxibila, or flexible easily disarticulated, but this one is quite intact, preserved in a fine 3-D aspect. The most minute details are preserved.
The quality of preparation on this fossil is without compare - it was prepared by a master preparator whose work is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  crinoids, imbedded in the matrix in which it was inundated and preserved for eternity.  These alien-looking crinoids derive the group name for obvious reasons. Crinoids such as these are In 1997, I flew to Indianapolis and drove to Crawfordsville to meet him at his home, where I purchased an assortment of his finest and most unusual specimens. This is an incredibly unusual and unique specimen and quite large for the species.
Overall dimensions 11 x 8 x 7 cm