Description
Until the second half of the nineteenth century, sea lilies were considered an extinct group. Fossils of sea lilies had long been known because they are found in large quantities in rock formations. However, a living specimen had never been seen until 1864, when a living sea lily was suddenly dredged from the Vestfjord near the Lofoten Islands by Georg Ossian Sars. This news prompted the Challenger Expedition (1873-76) to begin dredging for living sea lilies from the depths, and with success. Later, they were also found in the Atlantic Ocean during repair work on submarine cables at great depths.
