Mesnil, 1897
Description:
Body slender.
Prostomium anteriorly more or less incised, without antenna, posteriorly with a caruncle reaching segment 2-6. Four or six eyes, or absent. Two long palps present.
First notopodium with a few short chaetae.
Anterior noto- and neuropodial postchaetal lobes almost conical, posteriorly flattened. Fifth chaetiger dorsally with winged capillary chaetae, 3-12 modified chaetae and thin capillaries in a row; ventrally winged capillary chaetae. Modified chaetae thick, distally hooked with a pigmented bushy structure on the convex side.
7th and following neuropodia with 5-13 bent hooded hooks. Neuropodial capillaries also present but disappearing near the body end. Posterior 20 notopodia with capillaries and conical bundle of short, needle-like chaetae (P. caulleryi-detail).
Gills start at chaetiger 7 or 8, absent in the last 20.
Pygidium with four broad, truncate lobes.
Size:
Up to 50 mm for 150 segments.
Colour:
Living animal bright brown.
Habitat:
On mud, also between hydrozoa, bryozoa and in serpulid tubes; eulittoral to sublittoral.
Distribution:
Northern North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, Öresund, English Channel, North Atlantic, North Pacific, Black Sea, Arctic.