(M. Sars, 1872)
Description:
Body cylindrical.
Prostomium small and cylindrical; eyes absent.
Thorax with 15-17 chaetigers. Thoracic notopodia with a simple, cirriform or forked postchaetal lobe and with capillary chaetae. Thoracic neuropodia with 7-17 pointed postchaetal papillae and with several rows of hooded, stout chaetae and a row of capillaries (O. norvegica-parapodium). Posterior thoracic neuropodia with 4-8 thick, brown spines (O. norvegica-chaetae). No subpodial papillae.
Abdominal notopodial lappets are tongue-shaped with 4-5 aciculae and capillary and forked chaetae. Abdominal neuropodial lappets are slender, quite long, bilobed with an acicula and capillary chaetae. Ventral cirri small, triangular. No interramal cirrus.
Gills large, lanceolate, starting at parapodium 5-6.
Pygidium unknown.
Size:
Over 58 mm for over 75 segments.
Colour:
Reddish to yellowish.
Habitat:
On mud; upper sublittoral to 2900 m; stenohaline.
Distribution:
North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat. Probably world-wide, except Arctic and Antarctic.