crinoid
KRY-noyd
Definition
A marine echinoderm of the class Crinoidea, which includes sea lilies and feather stars, characterized by a cup-shaped body and feathery arms used for filter feeding.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek word 'krinon', meaning 'lily', and 'eidos', meaning 'form' or 'resemblance', referring to the flower-like appearance of many species.
In the news
The article discusses the rare preservation of soft tissue in crinoid fossils, noting how these ancient animals used hydraulic tube feet to capture food.
In the entire 485-million-year fossil record of sea lilies, only one fossil had ever been found with the tube feet the animals catch their food with, and a pair of crushed specimens from a Quebec quarry has now produced the second and oldest case, at about 452
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com