Jenis Crinoid Feather Stars

• They are the most common fossils from Paleozoic-age marine rocks and were
most diverse at this time because they were able to live in shallow water where
plankton was abundant.
• They were able to live in the shallow water where the predators could see them
because Paleozoic predators were less efficient than modern predators.
• Many different kinds of stalked crinoids were able to evolve by specializing on the
kinds and sizes of plankton that they ate because plankton is variable in size and
has a large range of different types of algae and microscopic animals.
• They were major carbonate producing organisms during the Paleozoic and
Mesozoic Eras with entire carbonate shelves composed mostly by crinoidal.
Carboniferous crinoid
• The geological history of the crinoids demonstrates how well the echinoderms
have adapted to filter feeding and the fossils of other stalked filter-feeding
echinoderms, such as blastoids, are also found in the rocks of the Palaeozoic
era.
o Crinoids evolved a plant-like morphology so that they could remain
attached to the seafloor while they spread their arms to catch food.