Wonderfully Detailed Glyptocrinus - Maysville, Kentucky

This is a wonderfully preserved pair of Glyptocrinus decadactylus crinoids from the Bellevue Formation near Maysville, Kentucky. The matrix measures 2.6x2.2" with the crinoid crowns being about 1 1/2" in length. It meticulously prepared under microscope using air abrasives to expose the superb surface detail of the fossils.

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.