Fossilized mushroom???

[Kentuckiana Mike]

That is a nice find.  The crinoid calyx fossil reminds me of an Eretmocrinus though.

 

Here is a nice one that looks like blue agate:

http://www.kyanageo.org/fossils/mississippian/echinodermata/7999.jpg

 

Also example at KPS site:

http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KPS/pages/jackson.html

 

They can be found at Lake Cumberland Kentucky:

http://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2009/12/lower-carboniferous-crinoid-calyx.html

 

[Al Dente]

Shiner's crinoid has an anal tube, something that Agaricocrinus lacks. I think shiner's crinoid is more similar to Uperocrinus, a Mississippian crinoid that is found in Kentucky. Here is a comparison with a couple from the internet. The plate pattern of the anal tube matches the one on the upper right fairly well, but could be a different species.

[FossilDAWG]

I think that is the base of the calyx, not the anal tube.  Anal tubes project from the tegmen.  In these crinoids, the tegmen is the part that is made up of many irregular plates, rounded or spiny on top, to the upper left of the arm attachment points in the photos.  The structure you marked is below the arm bases, and in the example you posted there seems to be well demarked basals and infrabasals (which may be fused as is common in camerates, as I don't see sutures), and so it is the base of the calyx.  I agree that possible IDs in addition to Agaricocrinus should be considered, including Uperocrinus.

 

Don

[Al Dente]

42 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said:

I think that is the base of the calyx, not the anal tube.  Anal tubes project from the tegmen.  In these crinoids, the tegmen is the part that is made up of many irregular plates, rounded or spiny on top, to the upper left of the arm attachment points in the photos.  The structure you marked is below the arm bases, and in the example you posted there seems to be well demarked basals and infrabasals (which may be fused as is common in camerates, as I don't see sutures), and so it is the base of the calyx.  I agree that possible IDs in addition to Agaricocrinus should be considered, including Uperocrinus.

 

Don

 

You are probably right. Here's another photo of Uperocrinus showing the anal tube on one end and a structure that I thought was the anal tube on the other.

[Archimedes]

The Yellow circle exhibits a top center large tegmen plate, not an opening for an anal tube like in Uperocrinus and Eretmocrinus but like Agaricocrinus. The green circle shows the area below the crinoid calyx, the second pic is unusual and to me looks to be a displaced part of a crinoid caylx, The red circle show other displaced crinoid calyx plates, showing that there are many other displaced crinoid plates in the matrix.

 

 

[abyssunder]

The yellowish elements look to me that they are crinoid monoserial (uniserial) arm fragments, possibly of different genus/species than the reddish-brown calyx. Maybe we have to deal with two or more crinoids embedded in the same matrix, as was stated before by Bill Ausich in Scott's post. I don't think that a crinoid like the specimen in question could have two different preservation colors along its body.

 

Just a guess for the yellow: something like Ectenocrinus ?
I'm pretty sure that I've seen the almost exact match for the 'branch', but I can't remember where...

P.S. - Just see now Kentuckiana Mike's opinion...