(M. Sars, 1851)
Description:
Body long, cylindrical, with up to 100 chaetigers; 5-8 of them thoracic ones.
6-20 pairs of radioli, with tips shorter than the last side-branch. Radioli webbed to the height of the fourth side-branch. Collar leaving the peristomium free, set low on the first segment with a short dorsal groove and long ventral lappets (P. neglecta-detail). Palps triangular; peristomium with 2 eyes. Dorsal lips blunt, without the usual midrib, but each supported by a pinnule at the base of each dorsal radiole.
Chaetigers 1 and 2 with only notopodial capillaries. Thoracic chaetae are slightly bent capillaries and spatulate chaetae (P. neglecta-chaetae). Thoracic uncini and companion chaetae with moderately long shafts.
Uncini on abdomen with shorter shafts than on thorax, but without companion chaetae, otherwise alike. Capillary chaetae on abdomen bent and with denticulate wings.
Pygidium with two small lobes and 6-8 pairs of eye spots.
Size:
Up to 84 mm for 100 segments.
Tube:
Brittle, made of hard mucus lining covered with tightly packed sand grains, bryozoa and foraminiferans. 3 mm in diameter.
Colour:
Red or brown with white spots. Crown light with reddish-brown bands and white spots. Palps reddish-yellow.
Habitat:
Mostly in muddy and mixed bottoms.
Distribution:
Arctic, North Pacific, North Atlantic, northern North Sea to Kattegat, South Africa, Subantarctic, Antarctic.