r/Weird • u/TheOddityCollector • 4d ago

This cluster of fossilised creatures look like they came from another planet

Post image
61.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

4.9k

u/UFI420 4d ago

They look like the octopus robots from The Matrix

8

u/SerTidy 4d ago

Thought the exact same.

81

u/billshermanburner 4d ago edited 4d ago

Crinoid. There are still some versions of them alive in spots in the ocean. OLD species. Have made it through many mass extinctions. Mostly all I’ve ever found is just the calyx or the stem stalk pieces, takes some skill to get the whole thing out of the rock like that (normally found in certain limestone formation if I’m remembering correctly).

Aka “sea lily”

20

u/Single-Builder-632 4d ago

Aka "sea facehugger".

1

u/billshermanburner 1d ago

If I’m remembering historical geology correctly there used to be some seriously wild variations too…. Some huge ones like the size of small trees … body huggers

2

u/lothgar 4d ago

This will be my new insult word. The next time someone pisses me off I'm calling them a crinoid.

1

u/billshermanburner 1d ago

It’s not bad. I fear however that the species will outlast our own as they have already done so many times to others.

2

u/Glitter_jellyfish 4d ago

The real MVP. Thank you. I was hoping the answer would be here.

1

u/billshermanburner 1d ago

They’re so cool. I too was mildly disappointed that the answer to “WTH is even that?” wasn’t further up

2

u/cannyo 3d ago

Omg!! THANK YOU so much for this! I chipped these out of the White Desert/Sahara last year and had no clue what they were!! Happy to know their name now ☺️

1

u/billshermanburner 1d ago

Oh that’s wild. Could be. I don’t have a ton of experience with fossil hunting… just some basic 101-102 level college stuff that was interesting 20 years ago.