Crinoid, Trilobite, Brachiopod Fossils - Waldron Shale, Indiana

This is a cool piece of shale with four fossils on it, two crowns of the crinoid, Eucalyptocrinus crassus, a head of the trilobite Dalmanties verrucosus with beautiful eye preservation and a brachiopod, Homoeospira evan. The entire piece measures 5.8x5" and was cleaned with air abrasives. One crinoid and the trilobite head were naturally found in association while the second crinoid and brachiopod fossil were composited onto the plate.

Crinoids are commonly known as sea lilies, though they are animals, not plants. They are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars. They attached themselves to the sea floor and had feathery, tentacle-like appendages which they used to capture particles of food. First appearing in the Ordovician period, 488 million years ago, they still survive to this day in deep water.