(Webster & Benedict, 1887)
Description:
Body small and fragile.
Prostomium semicircular with two reddish eyes, placed at the anterior edge of the prostomium. Prostomium with 3 antennae and 2 simple palps.
Median antenna as long as the prostomium, inserted in the posterior edge. Lateral antennae a little longer than the prostomium. Palps half the size of the prostomium.
6 pairs of simple tentacular cirri on 3 segments.
Dorsal tentacular cirri of second and third segment the longest, at least twice as long as lateral antennae. Dorsal and ventral cirri simple.
Dorsal cirri hardly longer than the parapodial lobes. Ventral cirri most often shorter than the parapodial lobes.
Blades of compound chaetae of different sizes, finely serrated and bidentate.
Additionally two simple chaetae present in upper and lower neuropodia, serrated at one side and with bidentate tips.
Pygidial plate present, more or less bilobed by a median notch at the posterior edge (M. aberrans-detail). Pharynx with 10 terminal papillae, without jaws.
Size:
Body up to 9 mm for 51 segments.
Colour:
Transparent to brownish-yellow, often with granulae dorsally and laterally.
Habitat:
Interstitial; eulittoral to 37 m.
Distribution:
North Atlantic, North Sea, Skagerrak, Öresund up to Bay of Kiel.