Nice 2.1" Hylodecrinus From Crawfordsville

This piece from the Ramp Creek Limestone of Indiana has a beautifully preserved 2.1" long Hylodecrinus sculptus crinoid. There is a small Onychocrinus ulrichi also present but this appears like it have have been composited onto the plate by the preparator.

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.