Sea lily - Decorative encyclopedic board - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Reproduction engraving of: Sea lilies

Original title Crinoidea - Palmensterne

Poster of Pentacrinus - Echinoderms of the class Crinoids (Order Crinoids)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Phylum Echinoderms (Echinoderma)
Class of Sea Lilies (Crinoidea)
Legion of modern sea lilies (Neocrinida)
Order of Pentacrines (Pentacrinacea).

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Crinoidea - Sea lilies :

The class of Sea Lilies or Crinoidea is distinguished from other echinoderms by the formation of a cup-shaped calyx (theca), attached to the seabed by a long, jointed peduncle, with the oral surface directed upwards. This oral surface is surrounded by five robust, long, and very mobile arms, often branched and multiple. On the numerous calcareous segments forming the framework of the mobile arms, there are fine jointed ramifications called pinnules. The long, rigid peduncle, which starts from the base of the calyx at the dorsal surface and attaches firmly to the seabed by its lower end, is also segmented and bears at regular intervals crowns of five small, thin claws; these are also very mobile and composed of calcareous segments. The number of individual skeletal parts, made of calcite, connected by ligaments in such a large sea lily, as well as the number of associated muscles and tendons, often reaches several thousand, or even several million in the largest species (exceeding 2 m in height). Young sea lily larvae swim freely in the sea.

Species present on the naturalist plate of Sea Lily - Pentacrinus :

• Metacrinus angulatus
• Pentacrinus maclearanus
• Pentacrinus wyville-thomsonii