Very few times I have come across with a replica so outlandish that it deserves praise. It’s happened to me repeatedly with Kaiyodo and I think this is the case with the Pleurocystites. I mean, who else has had the patience to sculpt an exctinct echinoderm, let alone so exquisitely detailed?
The history of the cystoids (these echinodermata are called so because they resemble a bladder) is very curious. All echinoderms evolved from primitive Cambrian ancestors, but it was not until the Silurian that they reached an enormous diversity. The cystoids, although very well known (just look at the beautiful fossils) still pose mysteries to scientists, for we don’t even know how they breathed or how they moved (if at all). They have no living equivalent; their body (called theca) was asymmetrical, the plates were irregular rhomboids. These animals had one flagellum and a pair of arms called brachioles. Apparently they didn’t live in big communities, as many echinoderms do.
The Kaiyodo Pleurocystites is tiny (barely 10 cm) but the colouring is festive and complex: translucid dark blue, silver, pink, yellow, brown and two different shades of orange for the body. As for the details, I’d say that the highlights are the well positioned openings, the obligatory rhomboidal pattern of the body, the ringed texture of arms and flagellum and some minuscule markings on the arms.
The Pleurocystited may have used the long flagellum to attach itself to something solid, in which case the rest of the body would float horizontally. More recently another theory has been suggested: it is far more likely that it remained lying on the sea floor and sometimes dragged its body using the arms. This seems to be the case of the Kaiyodo replica, it can even be correctly positioned, lying with its two major openings facing upwards. There’s one simple flaw: the ‘ventral’ side, the one that remains underneath, should have a different texture, as it was covered with a set of smaller plates; we find the same rhomboids instead.
I must confess that the authoritative Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology helped me during this research. It’s a very interesting book.
The Kaiyodo Pleurocystites has only 2 pieces, so no difficult assembly is needed. It’s out of production, but surfaces now and then.
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