Oersted, 1843
Description:
Body long, slender, vermiform, tapering at each end, with a continuous ventral groove. All segments with fine annulations.
Prostomium conical, longer than wide, extending in a finger-like median process, that is slightly swollen at its tip.
Parapodia with small prechaetal lobes and small ventral cirri. Gills starting at chaetiger 2, absent in the last 2-3 chaetigers. Gills long and cirriform.
The anus is surmounted by a spoon-shaped hood, open ventrally, whose margin is fringed posteriorly with 8-10 little finger-like processes. Within the hood, there are two large anal papillae with a single long cirrus inbetween.
Size:
Up to 60 mm for 50 segments.
Colour:
Yellowish to pearly grey with bright red gills.
Habitat:
On sand or mud, eulittoral to 1500 m.
Distribution:
North Sea to Öresund, whole northern hemisphere, South Africa, New Caledonia, Australia.