(Sars, 1835)

Description:
Body thick, abdomen tapering towards pygidium. Prostomium with a pair of prominent glandular ridges and many eyespots. Gills in two groups; the four gills of each group arranged in two transverse rows in a rhomboid pattern, the inner posterior pair united by a raised flap.
10-23 very large, blunt or pointed golden chaetae on each side in front of gills. (A. gunneri-detail).
Seventeen thoracic segments with notopodia with capillary chaetae, the posterior fourteen also with neuropodia with uncini. Uncini with one row of 4-7 teeth. Fifteen abdominal uncinigerous segments.
Pygidium with two long lateral cirri.

Size:
Over 25 mm.

Tube:
A thin layer of secretion encrusted with a thick, relatively firm layer of mud or clay, usually with plant fragments in a characteristic ringlike pattern.

Colour:
Unknown, but without pigmentation.

Habitat:
Unknown.

Distribution:
Western Norwegian coast, North Sea, English Channel.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Terebellida
Family Ampharetidae
Subfamily Ampharetinae
Genus Amphicteis
Species Amphicteis gunneri

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Amphicteis gunneri (M. Sars, 1835)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Amphitrite Gunneri Sars, 1835
Amphitrite curvipalea Claparède, 1870
Amphitrite groenlandica Grube, 1860
Amphicteis gunneri Sars, 1865

Hartley, J.P., 1985. The re-establishment of Amphicteis midas (Gosse, 1855) and redescription of the type material of A. gunneri (M. Sars, 1835). Sarsia, 70: 309-316.

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

Hempelmann, F., 1934. Archiannelida und Polychaeta. In: Handbuch der Zoologie, Zweiter Band. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin und Leipzig.

Holthe, T., 1986. Polychaeta Terebellomorpha. Marine Invertebrates of Scandinavia, 7: 1-192.

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

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