(Malmgren, 1866)
Description:
Body short, conical, tapering towards scaphe. 15 chaetigers, 3 thoracic and 12 abdominal.
Tentacular membrane broad, in large individuals folded, usually with 15-20 serrations. Dorsal brim smooth. Tentacles short, grooved.
Paleae are long with sharp tips, 8 to 17 on each side. Segments 2 and 3 each with a pair of lateral cirri.
Segments 4 and 5 each with a pair of laterally situated, lamellate gills (P. koreni-anterior end).
Dorsal chaetae on 15 segments, starting on segment 6. Ventral uncini on 12 segments, starting on segment 9. Laterally at base of scaphe 3 to 7 deeply embedded stout and distally curved spines. Notopodial chaetae of two types: straight, smooth ones and subdistally bent and denticulate ones. Neuropodia with uncini. Uncini pectinate with 3-4 vertical rows of 6-8 teeth (P. koreni-detail).
Scaphe with three pairs of characteristic clubshaped papillae. Anal tongue thin, moderately long, broadly rounded with finely serrated edge. Pygidial cirrus minute.
Size:
Up to 50 mm long for 15 segments.
Tube:
Slightly curved, conical masonry of sand grains, up to 80 mm long (Pectinaria tube).
Colour:
In life colourless to pink, gills red. In alcohol yellowish.
Habitat:
In many types of sediment, ranging from silt to coarse sand, most abundant in mixed bottoms with silt and fine sand; eulittoral to 500 m, most abundant in moderate depths.
Distribution:
Eastern North Atlantic from the Barents Sea to Angola, including the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Iceland, the Faeroes, North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, the Öresund and the Belts, Bay of Kiel to Warnemünde.