(Ferronière, 1898)
Description:
Body slender and cylindrical.
Prostomium anteriorly weakly incised, with four eyes, without antenna, posteriorly with a caruncle reaching chaetiger 2 or 3. Two long palps present, reaching the 10th-20th segment.
First notopodium without chaetae.
Notopodial postchaetal lobes in anterior segments finger-like. Neuropodial postchaetal lobes broadly rounded.
Fifth chaetiger with 9-11 modified chaetae and lanceolate chaetae in a row. Modified chaetae thick and weakly bent. 7th and following neuropodia with weakly bent hooded hooks with a small distal tooth and a bigger subdistal tooth. Neuropodial capillaries also present. Posterior 8-14 notopodia each with one strongly bent hook (P. ligerica-detail).
Gills start at chaetiger 2, but often absent on chaetigers 4, 5 and 6.
Pygidium with two cirri.
Size:
Up to 30 mm for 70 segments.
Colour:
Yellowish.
Habitat:
Around low water in muddy bottoms, where it lives in U-shaped tubes; usually 20 mm long and 2 mm broad. Interior of the tube with a paper-like layer. In brackish water.
Distribution:
North Sea, Baltic Sea, North Pacific, North and South Atlantic.