The Artistic Crinoid

Murals and large scale paintings of ocean scenes often include Crinoids. Despite their lower population now, comparison to the Permian, these odd animals have always been prevalent members of the ocean.This level of involvement in the ecosystem makes the inclusion of such creatures in artwork almost essential, especially in panoramas of more ancient subject matter. Some good images that include Crinoids can be found at this link (some may be erased in the future, FYI). Crinoids have been the subject of professional as well as amateur art for a very long time. They have been main subjects as often as they have been background animals actually. Line drawings of Crinoids have populated the notes of scientists since before natural history was even considered a legitimate profession (scientific history is one of my favorite side hobbies and I promise that the history of natural history is very interesting). The best Crinoid-centric image I have found this evening is presented below. This image is older, as we can tell by its artist, Heinrich Harder, but is one of the best Crinoid centered images that can be found online. The image shows a variety of Crinoids, or as Harder called them "seelilien", swaying gently in a current and anchored into the sandy bottom of the ocean. The colors have faded over the years, but imagining the brilliance of the reds, yellows, and purples of the Crinoids one can really see the beauty of these strange animals from Harder's perspective.

©Heinrich Harder