Crinoid Stem Lot — Gascoyne Junction, WA

Three fossil crinoid stem sections from the Callytharra Formation near Gascoyne Junction, Western Australia. Each is a tan-brown stack of ribbed, disc-shaped plates (columnals), and the ends show the small central canal.

Crinoids, or sea lilies, are relatives of starfish that anchored to the sea floor on jointed stems like these. The Callytharra Formation is an Early Permian limestone, around 290 million years old, and has yielded around 40 species of Permian crinoid.

1 piece 20 × 10 mm, 2 pieces 40 × 10 mm, 28 g total