(Bate and Westwood, 1868)
Description:
Coxal plates with few marginal setae; plate 4 large, with posterior a margin concave. Head with a wide rostrum; lateral lobes broadly rounded; eyes very large, bright red, fully coalesced and with relatively few large visual elements (eyes indistinct in preserved material). Female antenna 1 peduncle articles 1 to 3 about equal length, flagellum up to about 10-articulate. Male antenna 1 peduncle articles decreasing in length from 1 to 3, flagellum article 1 longer than peduncle article 3, setose. Female antenna 2 about equal to length of 1, flagellum about 6-articulate. Male antenna 2 flagellum filiform. Gnathopod 1 basis slender, carpal lobe reaching beyond end of propodus, propodus up to 4 times as long as wide, palm short, oblique, convex, delimited by stout spine. Gnathopod 2 generally similar to 1 except propodus longer and more slender. Pereiopods 3 and 4 merus, carpus and propodus with long stout setae, propodus oval, dactylus small. Pereiopods 5 and 6 stout, basis oval with plumose and non-plumose setae. Pereiopod 7 extremely elongate, slender, spinose. Telson almost twice as long as wide, apex rounded.
Size:
Up to 5 mm.
Colour:
Pale orange, translucent.
Habitat:
Depth range from 0 to 75 metres, occasionally collected intertidally; usually found in shallow water, burrowing in fine sand or mud. Locally very common.
Distribution:
North Atlantic; American and European coasts; widespread and frequently recorded; Atlantic coast of Europe from Norway to Mediterranean; North Africa to Senegal.