(Montagu, 1808)

Description:
Body semicylindrical, flattened anteriorly and posteriorly.
Prostomium bluntly conical, adult without eyes. Anterior three achaetous segments frequently fused to two segments. Many pairs of long filamentous palps in two groups on the 6-7th chaetiger, rarely at 4-5 chaetiger.
Filamentous gills, starting at first chaetiger (C. tentaculata-anterior end).
Chaetae capillary. In middle and posterior notopodia 4-5 additional thin hooks and on middle and posterior neuropodia 2-3 thicker and darker unidentate hooks (C. tentaculata-detail).

Size:
Up to 200 mm for 300 segments.

Colour:
Orange-yellow, reddish brown or yellowish-green, with red gills and palps.

Distribution:
Pacific, Indian Ocean, Atlantic up to Mediterranean and Black Sea, English Channel, North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Cirratulida
Family Cirratulidae
Genus Cirriformia
Species Cirriformia tentaculata

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Cirriformia tentaculata (Montagu, 1808)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Terebella tentaculata Montagu, 1808
Cirratulus borealis Rathke, 1843
Cirratulus norvegicus Southern, 1914
Cirratulus tentaculatus McIntosh, 1913
Audouinia tentaculata Fauvel, 1927
Cirriformia tentaculata Hartmann-Schröder, 1971

Benham, W., 1896. Archiannelida, Polychaeta and Myzostomaria. In: The Cambridge Natural History (Harmer, S.F. & A.E. Shipley, eds.). MacMillan and Co., Ltd. London.

Hartmann-Schröder, G., 1996. Annelida, Borstenwürmer, Polychaeta. Tierwelt Deutschlands, 58: 1-648.

Kirkegaard, J.B., 1996. Havbørsteorme II. Danmarks Fauna, 86: 1-451.

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