[1][3] Cinctans were sessile, asymmetrical animals with a skeleton made of stereom plates and a racquet-shaped body composed of a theca and stele.

They may have had a lifestyle similar to modern tunicates, filter-feeding by pumping water through gill slits in their pharynx.

The stele was essentially an extension of the cinctus, rather than a discrete appendage, and would have been fairly stiff side-to-side but possibly more flexible up and down.

Cinctans have been hypothesized to be epibenthic suspension feeders, with a lifestyle similar to modern tunicates.

[1] Chordata Pterobranchia Enteropneusta Ctenocystoidea Cincta Soluta Helicoplacus Camptostroma Stromatocystites Kinzercystis Gogia Akadocrinus Pleurocystites Ubaghsicystis Macrocystella Aethocrinus The classification of cinctans, like that of other carpoid echinoderms, is contentious.

[1] Phylogenetic analyses have found cinctans to be stem-group echinoderms, intermediate between ctenocystoids and solutans.

[8] Asturicystis Trochocystites Trochocystoides Sotocinctus Graciacystis Protocinctus Progyrocystis Gyrocystis Ludwigicinctus Undatacinctus Sucocystis Lignanicystis Elliptocinctus The internal phylogenetic relationships within cinctans have been difficult to study, due in part to their highly specialized anatomy making it difficult to determine their ancestral anatomy.

[10] They have been found in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

[10] Cinctans were originally considered to be cystoids, but in the early 20th century they were recognized as a distinct group.