Crinoids in Monmouth

By Jessica Walendukanis
Courier Staff

On Monday, Nov. 28, MC welcomed Forest Gahn who spoke about the history of the crinoid collection in and around Burlington, Iowa.

Ghan is a post-doctorial research associate in the department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History located in Washington, DC after receiving his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Michigan.

He is native to the Burlington area and became interested in crinoids around the age of fifteen.     

Entitled “Paleontology Along the Banks of the Mississippi: Sea Lilies from Oceans Past,” Gahn began his lecture by explaining where these fossils originated. 

According to wikipedia.com, crinoids are marine animals classified as echinoderms and are characterized by a mouth on the top surface that is surrounded by feeding arms. In addition, many crinoids display five-fold symmetry.

He said, “The very same rocks that were found in the Burlington area in the 1800s are beneath our feet now in Monmouth. By walking around you can see bits and pieces of the fossils.”

These crinoids are still alive today, but live as sea lilies or feathered stars that live in the ocean’s waters and have almost no color to them. Though many people think of these crinoids as a plant, Gahn stated that they are most definitely an animal and have a digestive, intestine, and nervous system. Also, crinoids do not have a brain and are sexual animals. Gahn spoke of the many famous paleontologists who helped collect and describe these crinoids, including his favorite, Charles Wachsmuth.

 Wachsmuth, who left his native Germany because of bad health, began collecting crinoids after his doctor told him to go for walks in hopes of bettering his health.

 Eventually Wachsmuth, along with Frank Springer, another paleontologist, wrote “North American Crinoidea Camerata,” a 1,000 page book filled with various crinoid descriptions. Wachsmuth received funds which are now supporting Gahn and his studies at the Smithsonian Institute.

Gahn said the reason there so many crinoids in the Burlington Limestone is because, “A lot of people have been and still continue to collect these specimens. There is available exposure, environmental controls, biotic interaction, and the fact that crinoids are being buried by other crinoids.”  Gahn continued, “Three hundred and fifty million years ago, this region was situated in a tropical environment south of the equator and was inundated by a warm shallow ocean. Instead of forests and cropland, the area was literally covered by crinoids.”

Gahn closed his lecture by showing slides of crinoid specimens, including his favorite, the Wachsmuthicrinus spnifer, who is named after Wachsmuth and the Cyathocrintles deroseari, whose founder, Doug Deroseari, attended the lecture.

He ended with a quote that he believes Wachsmuth would want us all to hear: “Gather ye crinoids while ye may, old time is still a flying, and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.”