(O.F. Müller, 1776)

Description:
Body long and cylindrical with up to 150 segments.
Prostomium a blunt cone, with 4-8 black eyes on each side. Following 3 segments similar to each other, with straight margins. Two groups of 2-24 palps inserted on the anterior edge of the first chaetiger. Gills long and filamentous, of much the same size as the palps, starting at the first chaetiger, almost to the tail end. All chaetigers with capillary chaetae. Stout, blunt chaetae also occur ventrally from chaetiger 10-12 and dorsally from chaetiger 20-23.

Size:
Up to 300 mm for 150 segments.

Colour:
Orange, pink or brownish red; palps and gills red or yellow.

Habitat:
Lower shore, in mud or muddy sand beneath or between rocks.

Distribution:
North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat to Öresund, South Atlantic.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Cirratulida
Family Cirratulidae
Genus Cirratulus
Species Cirratulus cirratus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Cirratulus cirratus (O. F. Müller, 1776)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Lumbricus cirratus Müller, 1776
Cirratulus borealis Oersted, 1843
Cirratulus cirratus Fauvel, 1927

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

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

Uschakov, P.V., 1955. Polychaete worms of the far-eastern seas of the USSR. Keys to the fauna of the USSR, 56: 1-443.

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