The "hypnotic" beauty of Crinoids - Sea Lilies | Nature VN

These strange and beautiful creatures are called Crinoids, or sea lilies. Professional diver Els van den Eijnden from the Netherlands took these precious pictures in the waters near Bali.
Sea lilies have tentacles that look like tree branches, growing a lot of hair. This animal lives clinging to coral reefs, and it is very rare to see them swimming.
The scientific name of the sea lily is Endoxocrinus parrae. Despite bearing the name of a flower, the sea lily is actually an animal belonging to the group of echinoderms, in the same family as starfish and sea urchins. They use feather-like proboscis to capture and suck up plankton.
Sea lilies are strange and beautiful creatures with tentacles that look like tree branches, and are very hairy. For most of their life, sea lilies cling to rocks and coral reefs. Only in exceptional situations do they move from their habitat. Therefore, it is very rare to see this animal swimming.
Sea lilies are characterized by having a mouth at the top, a U-shaped intestine, and their anus located next to the mouth.
Sea lilies are the oldest group of echinoderms that have survived to this day. They have about 5000 fossil species, and more than 600 species currently living in both deep sea, shallow or tropical coral reefs can find traces of them. Sea lilies feed by filtering small food particles from seawater with their feathers.
Sea lilies are faeces, having separate male and female, but they do not have obvious gonads.
The ocean always contains dangerous threats to small creatures. Throughout their evolution, they have adapted themselves by finding 'homes' to hide in. And there are some species that consider the sea lily as a discreet and safe "home", such as shrimp, rock fish, squat lobster, etc.