(Gosse, 1855)

Description:
Body thick, abdomen tapering towards pygidium. Prostomium with a pair of prominent glandular ridges and many eyespots. Gills in two well-separated groups; the four gills of each group arranged in two transverse rows in a rhomboid pattern, not united.
5-10 very large, abruptly tapering chaetae on each side in front of gills.
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:
Up to 55 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:
Head and thorax dorsally with brown pigmentation.

Habitat:
On mud, eulittoral to upper sublittoral.

Distribution:
British Isles, perhaps Skagerrak.

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

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Amphicteis midas (Gosse, 1855)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Crossostoma midas Gosse, 1855
Amphicteis gunneri Auctt. part
Amphicteis midas Hartley, 1985

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.

Sorry, there are no other images or audio/video clips available for this species.

No distribution map was available at OBIS the last time we checked. Retry now.

You can continue searching for Amphicteis midas on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia