Prionospio fallax

Söderström, 1920

Description:
Body small and slender.
Prostomium broadly rounded anteriorly, narrowing posteriorly to a narrow caruncle. Anterior pair of eyes small, posterior pair very big.
Notopodial postchaetal lobes of the first parapodia not forming a small fold around the prostomium. Notopodial postchaetal lobes triangular to leaf-like, in chaetigers 3-5 very big, posteriorly becoming shorter; in segment 7 and 6-14 following segments connected by a kind of collar across the dorsum. Neuropodial postchaetal lobes small and oval.
Anterior parapodia with winged capillary chaetae only. From neuropodium 12-16 and from notopodium 40 also 4-7 hooks. Hooks with 5-7 teeth. From segment 10-11 some spines are present on the neuropodia (P. fallax-detail).
Four pairs of gills, starting at chaetiger 2; the first and fourth pair long and feathery; the second and third pair short and smooth.
Pygidium with one long and two short cirri.

Size:
Up to 25 mm.

Colour:
Yellowish to whitish.

Habitat:
Down to 1500 m. Lives in richly branching mucus-tubes in muddy and sandy bottoms.

Distribution:
North Sea to Baltic Sea, North Atlantic to Morocco, South Africa, Japan, Australia.

%LABEL% (%SOURCE%)