Dolf Seilacher proposed in 1977 that it may be a trap for food, a mechanism for farming, or a foraging path.
Adolf Seilacher who discovered the original fossils of Paleodictyon nodosum hypothesizes that the creature is a worm-like species that burrows into the sediment around hydrothermal vents and deflects water flow through the burrows to catch food or farm its own food.