A genus of crinoids (sea lilies), which are marine animals with feathery arms used to filter food from ocean water.
From Latin comatula, meaning 'small-haired' or 'with hair,' from comae ('hairs'). The name refers to the crinoid's hair-like filtering appendages.
Comatula are living fossils that have barely changed in 300 million years—they look so alien that early naturalists weren't even sure they were animals at first, thinking they might be plants or weird corals!
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