Mysterious “star stones” that people found in ancient times (11 photos)

In ancient times, Europeans found such stars in rivers. Locals called them “star stones” and considered them magical coins of mysterious creatures and civilizations.





And, indeed, it looks like something constructed by hand. It is difficult to imagine that pebbles could take such a regular shape on their own.



And these are really not pebbles.

The solution turned out to be much simpler. These are fossils of crinoids.





The first crinoids appeared more than 500 million years ago, becoming one of the pioneers of the earth's fauna. And they populated the seabed, becoming undisputed leaders.

Sea lilies are not plants, but animals. They belong to the echinoderms.

They lead a sedentary lifestyle. They attach to the bottom and catch passing animals. They filter the water, catching plankton and other small things. However, they also know how to move, although they do not do it quickly. And they even know how to swim in order to escape in case of a predator attack.



Photo gallery of modern sea lilies:





However, they did not manage to reign forever. Disasters on our planet occur relatively regularly - approximately twice every 100 million years. Sea lilies survived several disasters, but the turn of the most terrible catastrophe in the history of terrestrial fauna came - the Permian extinction (I wrote more about it earlier, see the link at the end of the article).



Sea lilies still exist today, despite the difficulties they had to go through. About 700 modern species of these echinoderms are known in the world.



252 million years ago, most species of crinoids went extinct during the Permian extinction event. The reasons for this extinction are not completely clear - the event happened too long ago. The main possible causes are considered to be a giant asteroid and volcanic activity in Siberia.

But since then, many similar crinoid fossils have remained all over the planet. This is the most famous type of fossil organism.



Fossil sea lily

Surprisingly, some of them survive even at the most extreme depths. Found at a depth of 9700 meters! The largest lily known to science has grown to a length of 40 meters.

Now, imagine. Such a yummy thing lies at the bottom of the sea and cannot escape anywhere (half a meter per hour is not a speed!). Pure protein, for which there is constant squabbling in the ocean.

How are lilies saved? Over hundreds of millions of years of evolution, they have invented very original methods.



The most common thing is that they release toxic substances. But not every species is capable of this. And it won’t be possible to endlessly accumulate and release poisons, it’s too labor-intensive.

The defense mechanisms are usually more reminiscent not of animals, but of plants.

Sea lilies become tough and extremely tasteless. To do this, they even enter into symbiosis with certain microorganisms. And no one wants to eat them anymore.



If a fish attacks out of hunger, it usually does not end fatally for the lily. Sea lilies regenerate quickly. Even if you gnaw them, within a few weeks the lost limbs will grow back.