Robust 3D Jimbacrinus bostocki Museum Crinoid Fossil

Description: This magnificent lifelike display centerpiece is fully 3D. The specimen is nicely positioned on the top left of the plate. It was skillfully prepared from the sandstone matrix to show exquisite detail of the crinoid crowns and stalks. The primary crinoid is fully complete, displaying the full crown with its gracefully folded arms.

Jimbacrinus bostocki have become increasingly difficult to obtain in the last few years. I was able to acquire two at the 2014 Tucson Mineral and Fossil Show. Check out this YouTube video to view a group of diggers collecting Jimbacrinus, and other crinoids, along a dry riverbed in Western Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5fyPOFQzA

Jimbacrinus had five arms that were lined with fine tentacle-like structures called pinnules. Like all crinoids, it used these unfurled arms to feed on small animals and particles in the water. Fossils of Jimbacrinus show that they were abundant seafloor animals in what is now Western Australia during the Permian. They grew to approximately nine inches in length.

The crinoids have a long history. They were the first echinoderms to appear in the fossil record, and have kept their early structure throughout their long existence. They were extremely common in the Palaeozoic, and some rocks from the Carboniferous consist almost entirely of fossil crinoids.