Polycirrus caliendrum

Claparède, 1868

Description:
Body soft. Tentacular ridge and upper lip pleated. Tentacles of two types, long cylindrical ones and short, distally thickened ones. One unpaired and 8-11 paired ventral shields. Notopodial chaetae long and short, starting at segment 3. 30-70 segments with cylindrical notopodia with chaetae. Uncinigerous tori usually from the 9th chaetiger, rarely anterior to this, often from segments 10-12. Pygidium with small papillae.

Size:
Up to 100 mm for 90 segments.

Tube:
Mucous, not lasting, phosphorescent.

Colour:
In life orange to yellow, tentacular ridge spotted, tentacles yellowish, more or less pale; bluish or violet phosphorescence.

Habitat:
On soft bottoms or among algae, serpulids, hydroids or dead shells.

Distribution:
Eastern North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, North American Pacific. Rona, Norfolk.

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