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Curator’s Choice
Form and Function:
A Tribute to Adolf Seilacher
Innovative Adaptations
Illustration of
Scyphocrinites sp.
(YPM 202267) by Dr. Seilacher.
Courtesy of SEPM
(Society for Sedimentary Geology).
| Tow-net Feeding Many ancient crinoids, relatives of modern starfish, lived attached to the seabed by a long stalk (hence their popular name “sea-lilies”). Modern crinoids are free-living on the seafloor. Some unusual ancient crinoids, like Scyphocrinites, floated in the ocean with a water- and air-filled buoy. The arms were used in feeding in the same way that a net towed by a fishing trawler filters fish from the water. By casting an open mesh behind it, Scyphocrinites trapped food in the passing water. The arrangement of the branching arms was optimized for catching the maximum amount of food. |