Crinoids are an incredible group of aquatic animals that attach themselves to the seafloor and filter feeds with beautiful feathered arms. These creatures are echinoids, an ancient and varied group of life. Crinoids emerged in the fossil record over 541,000,000 years ago and some species still exist to this day.

This specimen is a 2.912" crinoid fossil plate that dates to about 323,000,000 to 331,000,000 years old. It comes from the Bangor Limestone Formation in the southern United States, centered around Alabama. Cymbiocrinus, Zeacrinus, and Phanocrinus are all species found here.

The fossil shows the animal in great detail. As these sections of the creature's body were made of soft tissue, finds like this are quite rare.