A Naturally Pyritized Crinoid or Sea Lily from Lyme Regis, Dorset,
A Naturally Pyritized Crinoid or Sea Lily from Lyme Regis, Dorset, in original Victorian
wooden case ( Megistocrinus )
Lower Jurassic – 180 million years old
Size : 43 cm high, 20 cm wide, 4.5 cm deep – 17 ins high, 8 ins wide, 1¾ ins deep
wooden case ( Megistocrinus )
Lower Jurassic – 180 million years old
Size : 43 cm high, 20 cm wide, 4.5 cm deep – 17 ins high, 8 ins wide, 1¾ ins deep
Known as ‘Sea Lilies’ crinoids are actually invertebrate sea animals from the echinoderm group that includes starfish and sea urchins. The flower like head was used to trap food within tentacles. Large numbers of them covered the ocean floor suggesting a vast submarine flower garden, their ‘lily’ heads waving in the sea’s currents.
Today they are the least familiar of the ocean’s inhabitants but at least 800 species of crinoids are still living mostly in deep, dark and cold waters where they have retreated to within the last 50 to 60 million years.
Today they are the least familiar of the ocean’s inhabitants but at least 800 species of crinoids are still living mostly in deep, dark and cold waters where they have retreated to within the last 50 to 60 million years.
A Naturally Pyritized Crinoid or Sea Lily from Lyme Regis, Dorset,
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