(Schneider, 1868)
Description:
Tentacles comparatively long, reaching segment 5 when directed posteriorly. Neither eyes nor so-called statocysts present. Nuchal organs at base of tentacles, nearly transversely orientated, with moderately long cilia. Head and body with numerous small ciliary tufts and several long sensory cilia. Epidermis conspicuously ornamented. Few small, bent, long, thin bacillary glands. Three broad, rounded adhesive pygidial lobes. Salivary glands in the first four or five segments, sometimes extending into segment 8.
Fertile region beginning in segment 9 in both sexes. Lateral organs in segments 7-12; in segment 6 only a ciliated pit. Three pairs of spermioducts in segments 9-11. Two to five pairs of oviducts in posterior segments.
Size:
Length 8-12 mm; width 250-300 µm for 35-50 segments.
Colour:
Whitish, weakly transparent; pharyngeal region intensely red.
Habitat:
Subtidal, medium to coarse sandy sediments.
Distribution:
North Sea (Helgoland), English Channel, Skagerrak (Swedish west coast, Gullmarfjord), French Atlantic coast, Mediterranean, Black Sea.