(McIntosh, 1869)
Description: Body small and slender. Prostomium as long as broad, bluntly conical, with a pair of eyes. Antennae short, indistinctly annulated; palps long with a short terminal section. Peristomium and apodous segment a little longer than following chaetigers. Parapodium quite long, cylindrical, with equal chaetal lobes. Dorsal cirrus short, ovoid, present on all chaetigers. Ventral cirrus also ovoid. Supra-acicular chaetae of two kinds: (1) stout forked chaetae with subequal smooth branches; (2) 1-2 finely toothed capillary chaetae. Subacicular chaetae compound, with bifid, finely toothed stout hooked blades (P. kefersteini-detail). A pair of short and a pair of longer annulated pygidial cirri. Mandibles short, X-shaped, with finely toothed anterior margins. Maxillary carriers fused posteriorly, V-shaped. Maxillae: two upper rows and two lower rows of fine teeth; the basal plates of upper rows fused posteriorly, those of lower rows free (P. kefersteini-jaw plates).
Size: Up to 15 mm for numerous segments.
Colour: Dorsal surface bright red or orange.
Habitat: Mostly on sandy substrata, less commonly on mud; but also under stones, among sea grasses and algae, and in empty tubes of serpulid polychaetes. Occurs in the lower intertidal and the shallow subtidal zones.
Distribution: North Atlantic to North Sea and English Channel, Mediterranean and Black Sea. |