Fossil Echinoderms
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 1,500 fossil echinoderms. Echinoderms are marine animals that include starfish (Asteroidea), brittlestars (Ophiuroidea), sea urchins (Echinoidea), sea lilies and feather stars (Crinoidea), and sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea), and other less well-known groups. They are generally characterised by a five-way radiating symmetry and have an internal skeleton of plates connected by joints. Many are covered in numerous spines. This collection consists of crinoids and echinoids from Scotland and the rest of Britain. Scottish crinoids from the Carboniferous Period account for over half the echinoderm collection, while other crinoids include Silurian and Jurassic examples from England and a fine Jurassic specimen of Pentacrinus from Germany. The echinoids are mainly from England, from the Chalk Formation of the Cretaceous Period. There is also a good collection of the Carboniferous echinoid Archaeocidaris from Scotland. Representatives of other echinoderm groups are few in number, but include brittlestars, starfish and examples of the extinct echinoderm groups blastoids and cystoids.
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