Cribricyatha

Cribricyatha is an extinct class of sponge-like animals which lived in the early to mid-Cambrian Period (Tommotian to Botomian).

[1] Cribricyatha were cup-shaped filter feeders similar to archaeocyathan sponges, with a skeleton composed of magnesium-rich calcite microgranules.

In cribricyaths of the order Cribricyathida, the peripterates may be supplemented by baculi, low ridges running parallel to the main shaft of the shell.

They were probably reef cryptobionts, meaning that they inhabited sheltered areas (such as the small crevices under or between rocks and reef-building organisms).

[1][2] Cribricyaths were usually subordinate to archaeocyathans as reef-building organisms, though they managed to be diverse or voluminous contributors for a few reef systems.