Sea lilies

Crinoids are not plants, but animals. Their closest relatives are the sea urchins and starfish. The actual body has tentacles and thus has similarities to the flower of a lily. It is attached to the seabed by a stalk. This can be many metres long and consists of countless thin plates. After the death of the animals, the body disintegrated and the stalks and especially the platelets covered the seabed to a height of several metres. Their shiny fractured surfaces can be seen everywhere in the rock.

As already mentioned, these crinoids form the so-called Hierlatz limestone. The mountain group that gives it its name is in Hallstatt: Hirlatzwand and Vorderer, Mittlerer and Hinterer Hirlatz (today’s Schreibeise). Normally the age is found in the early Jurassic period (around 200 million years old), but it can also last into the middle Jurassic period. Complementary to the Dachstein limestone, this limestone forms a low-density, patchy cover in the form of crevice fillings.

Further information for example: Geological Map of the Republic of Austria – Explanations on Sheet 96 Bad Ischl by Mandl et. all, Vienna 2012