I explain it on two grounds, I replied. In the first place, because vertical currents, which are caused by differences in the water's salinity and density, can produce enough motion to sustain the rudimentary lifestyles of sea lilies and starfish.

我用两个理由解释，我回答，第一，因为那些上下垂直往的水流，由海水的不同咸度和不同密度决定，发生一种运动，足以维持海百合和海星一类的原始基本生活。

The amateur fossil fiend spotted traces of ancient sea lilies, which only look flowery; they're actually invertebrates related to sea stars and urchins.

这位业余化石爱好者发现古代海百合的踪迹，它们只是花香四溢；实际上是与海星和海胆有关的脊椎动物。

It was the age of weird fishes and plated sea lilies.

那是奇鱼类和铠装海百合的时代。

Either way, the Paleozoic Era continued to be dominated by the crinoids and other echinoderms.

论如何，古生代依然由海百合和其他棘皮动物主导。

Species like conodonts, ammonoids, crinoids and green algae suffered particularly  high extinction rates during the CPE, as did reef builders.

在卡尼期洪积事件期间， 诸如牙形石、菊石、海百合和绿藻等物种特别高的灭绝率，珊瑚礁建造者亦未能幸免。

Heading into the Ordovician Period, around 485 million years ago, eocrinoids diversified into thousands of forms.

进入奥陶纪时期， 大约4.85亿年前，早期海百合分化出数千种形态。

Paleontologists wonder whether the ability to move around might've helped starfishes fare better than the stationary crinoids did.

古生物学家好奇移动能力是否帮助海星比固定不动的海百合更好地生存下。

Early Cambrian eocrinoids stuck lightly to sediment or just rested on it while suspension-feeding.

寒武纪早期的早期海百合轻盈地附着在沉积物上，或者只是躺在上面进行悬垂摄食。

But we still need more fossil evidence to help us figure out whether Cantabrigiaster really was a transitional animal between crinoids and sea stars or not.

但我们仍然需要更多的化石证据帮助我们确定坎特布里海星是否真的是从海百合向海星过渡的动物。

Eocrinoids first appeared in the fossil record roughly 517 million years ago.

早期海百合最早出现在大约5.17亿年前的化石记录中。

But starfishes and their skinny-armed cousins called the brittle stars made it through, along with a few crinoids, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins – the groups we still see today.

但海星及其细臂的亲戚——蛇尾类存活下，还有一些海百合、海参和海胆——这些就是我们今天仍然能到的群体。

If anything, the eocrinoids and crinoids with stalks were moving away from the low-profile body plan of a starfish.

如果有的话，带茎的早期海百合和海百合正逐渐远离海星那种低矮的身体结构。

It looks like some of the crinoids might've taken a different approach to feeding - instead of staying face-up suspension feeders, they went face-down.

有些海百合可能采取不同的进食方式——它们不再是面朝上的悬浮式喂食器，而是面朝下。

Crinoids became the most abundant echinoderms of the Ordovician, and some were the ancestors of today's stalkless feather stars and stalked sea lilies.

海百合成为奥陶纪最丰富的棘皮动物，其中一些是今天茎羽状海百合和有茎海百合的祖先。

And it kinda looked like a flipped-over stalkless sea lily.

有点像翻过的茎海百合。

So, as odd as the starfish body plan seems, something about it was successful -- from their ancient bilateral ancestors, to the radial crinoids with their upward-facing arms, to the predatory, downward-facing starfish.

所以， 尽管海星的身体结构很奇怪，但这种结构显然是成功的——从它们古老的双侧对称祖先，到向上伸出触手的辐射对称早期海百合，再到向下捕食的海星。

Some eocrinoids, like Gogia, developed stem-like stalks that raised their arms higher into the water column, further from the sediment.

一些早期海百合， 如戈吉亚，进化出类似茎的柄， 将它们的臂抬高到水柱中，远离沉积物。

Sea levels were high, and the continents were surrounded by vast, shallow seas, full of exotic creatures like rugose corals, crinoids, and jawless fish.

海平面很高，各大洲周围都是广阔的浅海，里面充满奇异的生物，如皱纹珊瑚、海百合和颌鱼。

Including the similar-looking and closely related group - the crinoids, also called sea lilies - which showed up and diversified into many species with different suspension-feeding body types.

以及外形相似且亲缘关系密切的群体——早期海百合，它们出现并分化成许多具有不同悬垂式进食身体结构的物种。

And crinoids are still around, too, but their species number in the 600s, in contrast to the 6000 known species that've lived throughout Earth's history.

而且海百合仍然存在， 但它们的物种数量只有六百多种，相比之下， 地球历史上已知生存过的海百合物种有六千种。