First of all, the passage states that Agnostids are free-swimming predators, so they live off by hunting smaller animlas. The professor disagree with this idea and believes that this is unlikely to be true. He explains that predators should have large eyes to track preys but Agnostids were blind.
In addition, the passage posits that Agnostids live on the seafloor and survives by both scavenging dead organisms and grazing on bacteria. The professor