Palaeontology is mostly associated with dinosaurs. Of course, overlords of early continents can affect our imagination, but only few people realize that occurrence of huge reptiles was very short part of the life timeline. For the most time of its existence, life hadn’t even left the ocean. In my project I focused on identifying fossilized echinoderms – most evolutionary advanced invertebrates. Crinoids and blastozoans described in my project, may not look frightfully, but they had become a dominant species in Palaeozoic seas. They even had created their own ecosystems, called crinoid meadows, providing shelter and food for many other species. The magnificent complexity and geometry of their calcite armour helps me with identifying in total 23 species: 16 blastozoans and 7 crinoids.
Contestants
Kamil Humański
Environment
Country
Poland