Editing Archaeocyatha (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:Archaeocyath observed in situ in the Flinders Ranges.jpg|thumb|Archaeocyath, ''[[in situ]]'' at the [[Flinders Ranges]].|273x273px]]{{also|Sponge reef}}
Flow tank experiments suggest that archaeocyathan [[morphology (biology)|morphology]] allowed them to exploit flow gradients, either by passively pumping water through the [[skeleton]], or, as in present-day, [[Extant taxon|extant]] sponges, by drawing water through the [[wiktionary:pore|pores]], removing nutrients, and expelling spent water and wastes through the pores into the central space.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}

The size of the pores places a limit on the size of plankton that archaeocyaths could have consumed; different species had different sized pores, the largest large enough to conceivably consume mesozooplankton, possibly giving rise to different ecological niches within a single reef.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/pab.2019.32| title = Prey fractionation in the Archaeocyatha and its implication for the ecology of the first animal reef systems| journal = Paleobiology| volume = 45| issue = 4| pages = 652–675| year = 2019| last1 = Antcliffe| first1 = Jonathan B.| last2 = Jessop| first2 = William| last3 = Daley| first3 = Allison C.| s2cid = 208555519| url = https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_5F50FC6E8ACB}}</ref>

Although archaeocyaths have commonly been thought of as stenobionts narrowly adapted to carbonate-dominated marine settings, they were also present in siliciclastic-dominated environments as well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Aihua |last2=Luo |first2=Cui |last3=Han |first3=Jian |last4=Zhuravlev |first4=Andrey Yu. |last5=Reitner |first5=Joachim |last6=Sun |first6=Haijing |last7=Zeng |first7=Han |last8=Zhao |first8=Fangchen |last9=Hu |first9=Shixue |date=1 November 2024 |title=Niche expansion of archaeocyaths during their palaeogeographic migration: Evidence from the Chengjiang Biota |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018224004085 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |language=en |volume=653 |pages=112419 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112419 |access-date=15 November 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>