Crinoid, Mahoumacrinus sp.
Devonian, 419-359 myo
Middle Atlas Mtns near Erfoud, Morocco

This fossil crinoid plate is a Scyphocrinites Elegans, an extinct crinoid found in Morocco. Crinoids are fascinating examples of our oceans mysterious past and, perhaps, one of the more intriguing fossils we carry.  Because many crinoids resemble flowers, with their cluster of waving arms atop a long stem, they’ve been nicknamed “sea lilies”. But crinoids are not plants. They are members of a phylum of sea creatures known as Echinodermata, which means "spiny skin." Other examples of non-extinct echinoderms include sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, and starfish. Like their modern day living relatives, crinoids lived on the ancient sea floor filtering the water for their food.

Crinoids emerged in the fossil record over 541,000,000 years ago which, when you really think about it, is an insanely long time ago. The Syphocrinites Elegans is from the Devonian age roughly 395-360 million years ago. The Devonian is known as "The Age of Fishes" but crinoids actually became more widespread during the Mississippian Age around 347-325 million years ago. The Mississippian Age is when crinoids reached their apex and blanketed the floors of the anicent shallow seas. There were so many during this time that the Mississippian Age has been called "The Age of Crinoids." So far, scinetist and paleontologists have discovered around 2100 different species of crinoids and 800 of those species still survive today. Today, still surviving crinoids live at great depths in the ocean unlike their extinct cousins which could also be found in shallow seas. Because crinoids disarticulate easily when they die, most crinoid fossils are usually a piecemeal afare. A stem here, part of another there which makes whole crinoid fossils a rare and treasured find. Speaking of extracting them…

Extracting crinoid fossils from the earth is laborious to say the least. They generally lie in a horizontal layer about 20 feet below the surface. The Moroccan crinoid miners dig a vertical shaft down 20 feet, then tunnel horizontally until they find crinoids. Once they have been located, miners dig around the fossil layer to free it from the surrounding soil. 

This is a unique, one of a kind, fossil. Once this item is sold, we will not be about to acquire an exact replacement. All Paxton Gate specimens are guaranteed to be of the highest quality; sourced from ethical vendors and private collectors around the world. specimen has been repaired to give you the most impressive specimen possible.