Gogia is a primitive genus of the Class
Eocrinoidea, belonging to the early
echinoderm Subphylum
Blastozoa (Sprinkle 1973), dated from the Cambrian.
G. ojenai dates to the late Early Cambrian;
The species of
Gogia, like other eocrinoids, were not closely related to the true
crinoids, instead, being more closely related to the
blastoids.
Gogia is distinguished from sea lilies, and most other blastoids, in that the plate-covered body was shaped like a vase, or a bowling pin (with the pin part stuck into the substrate), and that the five
ambulacra were split into pairs of coiled or straight, ribbon-like strands.
As a whole, the Eocrinoids are regarded as basal blastozoans very close to the ancestry of the entire subphylum.
References
Read More