North American Crinoidea camerata fossils (printed for the Smithsonian Libraries in 1897); photo by BioDivLibrary on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).
Crinoid (Crinoidea)
Missouri designated the crinoid (Delocrinus missouriensis) as the official state fossil in 1989; promoted by school students from Lee's Summit, MO. Crinoids are the fossilized remains of prehistoric sea lilies that lived in the oceans that once covered Missouri (related to the starfish and sand dollar). There are still about 600 varieties of Crinoidea living in the oceans of today.
