Plant or Animal - FOS 011

FOS 011

Crinoid Segment

Location: Hamburg, NY

Details: part of the stalk

Here's just another short post from the fossil collection. This one is a crinoid stem that I collected myself from the Penn Dixie Site in Hamburg, New York back in late-August 2009. Most of the fossils that I found there were trilobites and rugose corals (horn corals). But occasionally I found some crinoid pieces or the occasional brachiopod there (they're more common to Central New York).

Now, this is the 'stem' part of the crinoid. You see while crinoids look a lot like underwater plants, they are in fact animals. You can see from this crinoid informational page what the actual structure looks like for these pretty interesting creatures. Crinoids are actually still around, though most modern day species no longer have a stalk and just float around the ocean. Like I said this is a pretty short post, mostly because I'm tired and crinoids are little too regular for me (i.e. I see them a lot in the fossils I collect).