(Montagu, 1804)

Description:
Crown with up to 200 radioli with a low web, in 1-4 spirals. Each radiole with 2-3 eye spots. Palps short, connected by the upper lip.
Collar dorsally and ventrally incised, with two ventral lappets deeply pigmented except for the border and a wide gap between dorsal margins (B. volutacornis-detail). Ventral ends of tori and adjacent ventral shields close together. Usually eight thoracic chaetigers.

Size:
Up to 150 mm for 100 chaetigers.

Tube:
Membranous, colourless, terminally encrusted with mud.

Colour:
Body greenish or violet; crown white, pale green or violet.

Habitat:
Sublittoral and in deep pools.

Distribution:
Eastern North Atlantic to Mediterranean, English Channel and northern North Sea.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Sabellida
Family Sabellidae
Subfamily Sabellinae
Genus Bispira
Species Bispira volutacornis

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Bispira volutacornis (Montagu, 1804)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Amphitrite volutacornis Montagu, 1804
Bispira volutacornis Fauvel, 1927

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

Knight-Jones, P. & T.H. Perkins, 1998. A revision of Sabella, Bispira and Stylomma . Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 123(4): 385-467.

Nelson-Smith, A., Knight-Jones, P. & E.W. Knight-Jones, 1990. Annelida. In: Hayward, P.J. & J.S. Ryland (eds.). The Marine fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe, vol I: 201-306.

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