the fossils
crinoid
"sea lily" · an animal, kin to the starfish
The tell
Stacked discs, like a roll of coins, each with a hole or a tiny star in the middle. Loose single segments are far more common than a stack.
Crinoids are animals, not plants. They are sea lilies. What you have is a piece of the stalk, and complete heads are museum finds.
What it gets mistaken for
- bryozoan
- syringopora
- beads
- Cheerios
The facts
- also called(sea lily) · an animal, kin to the starfish
- age~385 million yrs
- where it turns upAlpena to Traverse · statewide in gravel
- the field markstacked discs with a hole or a star down the middle
10% of every order goes to northern Michigan animal shelters.