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We're at 1,150 feet and 250 feet off the bottom.

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Unchanged for 
eons the dark alien deaths and miles of

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uncharted territory of the deep sea 
tease the curious with their unexplored secrets.

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Every time you go down in the submersible 
there's always something that's a surprise.

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Every submersible dive is a discovery.

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My favorite thing is seeing some things that 
I didn't know existed before.

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Much of what lives in the deep is little known 
or understood. This includes a group of

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animals few people have ever heard of, 
some of which seem eerily like an

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outstretched hand reaching from the 
grave. While others look like a field of flowers.

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For the first moment I learned 
about crinoids I've been enthralled with them.

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I just think they're beautiful 
organisms.

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Crinoids are the sea lilies and feather stars.

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They're one big group 
of the major branch of animal life

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called the echinoderms, which includes 
the sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers.

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Crinoids are often referred to 
as living fossils because the forms that

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exist now are very similar to some forms 
that existed during the age of dinosaurs.

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They've been around for a very long time. 
Crinoids are found all over the world

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there are Arctic and Antarctic and 
tropical crinoids. There are some species

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that are found as shallow as just below 
the low-tide mark and there are crinoids

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in the deepest ocean trenches.

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My belief is these guys don't have natural deaths

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they died into predation, in other words 
they will live virtually forever if you let them.

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What remains to be discovered 
about these living fossils?

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What can modern crinoids tell us about 
their ancient relatives?