Crinoids are part of a large group of marine invertebrate animals called echinoderms. Other echinoderms include starfish, brittle stars, sand dollars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Crinoids are unusual looking animals because they resemble plants more than animals. Crinoids are more commonly known as "Sea Lillies", a colloquial nomenclature which relates to their flower-like appearance.

Crinoids filter plankton from sea water and evolved a plant-like morphology so that they could remain attached to the sea floor. They were once thought to be extinct until found at great depths in the seas off Norway. Comparitively wide spread in the fossil record, excellent crinoid fossils are associated with the Ordovician in Morocco, the Mississippian of the central U.S. and Canada, the Jurassic - Triassic of Germany, the Permian of Australia and Timor, and the Tertiary of Oregon. 

Click Here to see crinoids from  Montgomery County, Indiana USA Mississippian Age		Click Here to see crinoids from  Guizhou Province, China  Triassic Age		Click Here to see crinoids from  Northwest Basin, Australia  Permian Age