Crinoid

Crinoid belongs to the class Crinoidea, which includes sea lilies and feather stars. They look like plants but are marine animals. It is classified in the phylum Echinodermata, which means rough or thorny skin, including sea stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and sea coins. Because they live in the sea, they have a hard skeleton that is a carbonate solution and have been found as fossils. Many of them are buried in limestone, a rock deposited primarily in the sea that appeared in the Ordovician period about 485 million years ago, and approximately 600 species have survived to the present day.

The crinoid consists of two main parts: the head, which looks like a bush-like flower (crown), and the part that is like a trunk. It seems like a coin or donut, lined up together (stalk), and the bottom part is similar to a root that acts as an anchor (holdfast).

Most of the complete parts of the crinoid fossils in Thailand have not been found. Found only parts similar to the trunk. Also known as the crinoid stem and holdfast, it can be found in limestone since the Ordovician (485 million years) includes the provinces of Lamphun, Kanchanaburi, Satun; the Permian period (300 million years) includes the provinces of Phetchabun, Ratchaburi, Saraburi, Lopburi, Sa Kaeo; and the Triassic period (250 million years) includes the provinces of Lampang.

Stop by and say hello to Crinoid up close at Zone 3, Paleozoic Era, or view through the Museum Pool system at the Sirindhorn Museum.

Compiled by: TidaDino

Public Relations Media: Department of Mineral Resources