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

那是奇怪的鱼镀金合的时。

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

无论哪种方式，古生继续由合其他棘皮动物统治。

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

它看起来有点像翻过来的无柄合。

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

业余化石爱好者发现了古合的踪迹，它们看起来只是花香四溢；实际上是与星胆有关的无脊椎动物。

Modern starfishes move using their tube feet in a way that's similar to what crinoids do to waft food into their mouths.

现星使用管脚移动，其方式类似于合将食物送入嘴中的方式。

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

如果说有什么不同的话，那就是带有茎的合合正在远离星低调的身体计划。

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

古生物学家想知道四处移动的能力是否比静止的合更能帮助星生存。

Cantabrigiaster had the thick arms of a starfish but, like sea lilies, lacked small hard plates along the edges of its arms.

Cantabrigiaster 有星一样粗的手臂，但像合一样， 手臂边缘没有小的硬板。

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

合成为奥陶纪最丰富的棘皮动物，有些是今天无柄羽星有柄合的祖先。

So, the first starfish may have originated from a sea lily that faceplanted, putting its mouth down on the seafloor.

因此， 第一只星可能起源于一种面朝下的合，将嘴巴放在底。

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

平面很高，大陆被广阔的浅包围，充满了奇异的生物，如长皱纹珊瑚、合无颌鱼。

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.

看起来有些合可能采取了不同的进食方式——它们不再是面朝上的悬浮式喂食器，而是面朝下。

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.

但是我们仍然需要更多的化石证据来帮助我们弄清楚 Cantabrigiaster 是否真的是合星之间的过渡动​​物。

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.

包括外观相似且密切相关的群体——合，也称为合——它们出现并多样化为许多具有不同悬浮喂养体型的物种。

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.

合也仍然存在，但它们的物种数量只有 600 种，而地球历史上已知的物种数量为 6000 种。

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.

但是星它们被称为蛇尾的瘦臂表亲以及一些合、参胆——些我们今天仍然能看到的群体——成功了。

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.

我用两个理由来解释，我回答，第一，因为那些上下垂直往来的水流，由水的不同咸度不同密度决定，发生一种运动，足以维持合星一类的原始基本生活。

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.

因此， 尽管星的身体计划看起来很奇怪，但它的某些方面是成功的——从它们古老的双侧祖先，到手臂朝上的放射状合，再到捕食性的、面朝下的星。