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ABOVE AND BELOW PHOTOS SHOW RARE DETAIL OF THE INDIVIDUAL FEATHER-LIKE FILTER FEEDING APPENDAGES ON THE TENTACLES
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FINEST GRADE GIANT CRINOID FOSSIL SLAB LOADED WITH EXTINCT SEA LILIES ON ORIGINAL PREHISTORIC OCEAN FLOOR MATRIX South Morocco UPPER SILURIAN PERIOD: 420 million years ago Truly a museum grade display fossil CRINOID slab of impressively large proportions, this is an amazing ENORMOUS natural association of a concentrated group of large and complete prehistoric SEA LILIES of the species Scyphocrinus elegans. The massive slab was formerly the bottom of the Silurian sea where a number of these creatures died and became buried still in their original articulated positions as they were when once alive. The relief and detail of this amazing specimen must be seen in person as it looks so much more impressive than the photos convey. While still alive today, sea lilies were much more prevalent in the ocean in prehistoric times. Whether destined for a prime spot in a major museum, educational exhibition or private interior, this is one piece that will most definitely leave its viewers with an incredible impression of how bizarre ocean life was and still is today! How much more impressive would this three dimensional ORIGINAL AND AUTHENTIC giant slab of prehistoric marine life be compared to a painting? It is as flat as a painting and can easily be mounted to a wall with metal brackets as it averages only 1.5 to 2 inches thick. Special highlights of why this piece is different than most offered are the unusually large size it is and the quality of the preparation and detail as well as the completeness of a large intact portion of this former crinoid colony. The majority of Moroccan crinoid slabs are painted with an ugly artificial black color on the fossil and dull red color over the original stone. Furthermore, the preservation and its preparation is often substandard. This specimen is far superior to what is usually encountered. There is none of the typical paint applied to this specimen which allows incredible detail to be seen as a result of the finest lab preparation of the slab. There is NO FABRICATION of the crinoids and only the original excavation saw lines were repaired and filled. The entire back of the slab is reinforced with epoxy and the overall thickness is only 1.5 to 2 inches on average making this an IDEAL wall mount display fossil. There are numerous COMPLETE large crinoid specimens on this slab including their long stems and fully inflated calyxes. The closer one inspects this slab, the more rewarding the experience. There is so much minute detail preserved as seen in the photos above. What the photos do NOT show is how some of the sea lilies PROTRUDE dramatically off the slab front. Many large Moroccan crinoid slabs are pieced together and made up of small unrelated slab portions. You can see long stems and giant crinoid heads that span the entire slab on this specimen which indicates this is a truly original large portion of the crinoid bed and not one made up of smaller, unassociated parts. Furthermore, the concentration and completeness of these large crinoids far exceeds what is usually seen offered for sale. If a museum wished to display a visually impacting specimen of exotic, extinct marine life from over 400 million years ago, this piece would be one that public visitors would likely remember and be duly impressed by! For the ultimate commercial or residential interior design application, this is an extraordinarily fine quality and large fossil slab of the finest scientific grade showing a rare and visually intriguing AUTHENTIC AND ORIGINAL example of some of the earliest complex marine creatures on our planet.
CRINOIDS are known as feather stars or sea lilies and are echinoderms. They are alive today in the oceans but were more prevalent in colonies in prehistory. They live in shallow water but have also been found in extreme deep sea environments. Crinoids resemble a flower with tentacles. They are filter feeders and have feather-like appendages that strain food particles from the ocean currents. Some live as floating organisms but most are attached to the ocean floor by the means of a segmented stem. Most fossilized crinoids are found disarticulated in beds of numerous fragments but they also can be found in articulated forms as they once were when alive. The first occurrences of crinoids in the fossil record as found in the Ordovician Period. Crinoids are composed of three basic components - the arms, the calyx and the stem. The calyx is the body and contains the digestive and reproductive parts. The tentacles contain feathery appendages called cirri which moved the captured food particles down towards the calyx and into the mouth. HIGHLY CONCENTRATED PREHISTORIC OCEAN FLOOR SLAB WITH LARGE, COMPLETE FOSSILIZED SEA LILIES OF THE FINEST PRESERVATION A TRUE MUSEUM PIECE! 48" x 43" overall $23500 CRI001 Actual Item - One Only |
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THIS IMAGE IS PROTECTED BY A STRICTLY ENFORCED COPYRIGHT AND MAY NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY |
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