Skip to content

Take a Break with Some Feather Stars

2020-03-27 · explainer · Hank · 3:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: self promotion

Offering John a break, Hank tells how crinoids, whose fossils remain from the Western Interior Seaway that split North America 100 million years ago, are still common: stalked sea lilies and mesmerizing, swimming feather stars with seawater for blood; he adds that the pin club got feather star pins early and that the DFTBA warehouse has closed with all staff still paid.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The Western Interior Seaway 100 million years ago and the crinoid fossils it left across interior America

  • ★★ Hank says around 100 million years ago North America was two or three large islands, with a massive shallow ocean, the Western Interior Seaway, between them. — 00:00:00 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says the seaway stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean and was at most 900 meters deep, while the Mediterranean's deepest point is 5,000 meters. — 00:00:16
  • ★★ Hank says little cylinders found all over interior America, which look like crystals or fossilized plant parts, are really the remains of crinoids from that sea. — 00:00:29 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says crinoids, tree-like filter feeders that blanketed the seaway, were not plants but animals. — 00:00:43
  • ★★★ Hank says anyone who wants to see a fossil come to life is in luck: crinoids, still alive today, do not disappoint in their beauty and oddity. — 00:00:53

00:00:58 — Living crinoids: sea lilies and feather stars, their rare but mesmerizing locomotion, five-sided symmetry, regrown legs and seawater blood

  • ★★ Hank says crinoids are still common on Earth, as they have been for nearly half a billion years. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank says crinoids today come in two main kinds: stalked ones called sea lilies and unstalked ones called feather stars. — 00:01:08
  • ★★ Hank says that unlike corals, which are collections of tiny organisms stuck in one place, crinoids are macro-organisms that can move, though they rarely do. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank says crinoids spend almost all their time sitting in one spot but almost all their viral-video time in their mesmerizing swimming locomotion. (playful) — 00:01:40
  • ★★ Hank says feather stars, like other echinoderms such as starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers, have five-sided (pentaradial) symmetry. — 00:02:05
  • ★★ Hank says crinoids may have any number of legs divisible by five, but the delicate legs often get chewed or knocked off and can simply grow back. — 00:02:17
  • ★★ Hank says sea lilies are essentially the same as feather stars, though different species, but when they move they just drag their stalk behind them. — 00:02:30
  • ★★★ Hank says crinoids have a vascular system whose blood is just seawater, transporting oxygen, nutrients and waste. — 00:02:46
  • ★★ Hank marvels that crinoids figured out how to do their thing before blood existed and are still doing it. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Hank says crinoids kept adapting: their locomotion did not exist 500 million years ago and is relatively recent, from around 200 million years ago. — 00:03:00

00:03:16 — Pin club got feather stars early instead of armadillos; the DFTBA warehouse and store closed, staff still employed; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank tells Bizarre Beasts pin club members that feather star pins were sent out early instead of armadillos, implying the mix-up was his fault. (playful) — 00:03:20
  • ★★ Hank thanks pin club members and says all the money from it goes to help some of the most vulnerable people in the world. — 00:03:29
  • ★★★ Hank says the DFTBA warehouse and store have closed; everybody is still on staff, and they hope to be running again soon. — 00:03:34 · DFTBA Records
  • ★ Hank tells John the episode was a great break for him and hopes it was for John too. — 00:03:40

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Montana has asked nonessential businesses to close until at least April 10th, likely longer, and that DFTBA will re-open. (hedged) — video description · Montana, DFTBA Records
  • ★★ The description says orders received up to that morning should ship, pre-order items may not, and customer service still handles refunds at hello@dftba.com. (hedged) — video description · DFTBA Records
  • ★★ The description thanks buyers: DFTBA built a rainy-day reserve fund from their purchases and can keep its staff paid during this time. — video description · DFTBA Records

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: crinoid · feather star

Also: Projects: Bizarre Beasts Pin Club · DFTBA Records

Concepts: circulatory system · coral · echinoderm · Fossil · sea cucumber · sea lily · sea urchin · starfish · viral video

Places: Arctic Ocean · Gulf of Mexico · Mediterranean Sea · North America · United States · Western Interior Seaway

Only in the description or credits: Montana

← Previous: Mental Health Tips from People Who've Been There · Next → Let's take a walk.