Quatrefages, 1865
Description: Body broad anteriorly, tapering posteriorly. Prostomium is small and conical, composed of ca. fifteen rings, with palps and antennae forming a cross at the tip. Mid-body segments triannulate. Parapodia are short with two finger-like prechaetal lamellae, the notopodial much shorter than the neuropodial. Postchaetal lamella is rounded. Dorsal cirri on body wall, rounded, ventral cirri finger-like. Notopodial capillary chaetae in a single bundle, neuropodial chaetae are compound, in two bundles; the upper and lower chaetae in each bundle are thicker and have a shorter blade than the median chaetae. Gills absent. Pharynx with papillae of two kinds: tall with scalloped edges and oval ones. Aileron with an inner branch which is totally to slightly united to the outer branch by the interramal plate.
Size: Up to 150 mm long for 170 segments.
Colour: Living animal whitish, anterior part pinkish.
Habitat: Sand mixed with gravel, from the eulittoral to about 600 m.
Distribution: Northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat. |