(Sars, 1882)
Description:
Body up to 2 mm long in female, 1 mm in male; more or less parallel-sided in female and noticeably constricted in the middle of the pereion in male. Eyes much larger in the male than in the female. Antenna 1 in male attaining almost one third the length of the body and inclining ventrally; proximal article of flagellum very short and, like the two following articles, with a dense bunch of aesthetascs. Maxilliped of female with long seta arising from just below articulation of palp.
Chelipeds similar in males and females.
Pereiopods 4 to 6 with the bases broader than in pereiopods 1 to 3.
Uropod biramous; the exopodite slightly shorter and narrower than endopodite; each ramus with 2 articles.
Habitat:
This species has a vertical distribution from the littoral down to 100 m. It is often found in kept holdfasts and offshore among hydroids and in muddy sand and gravel.
Distribution:
This species has been recorded from the Shetlands, the east and west coasts of Scotland, east and south-west coasts of England, western Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. On a world-wide level records exist for the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of France, the Faroes, Norway and south of Iceland.