(Rathke, 1843)
Description:
Rostrum virtually straight, not more than half length of carapace; seven or eight dorsal teeth, four or five of these being behind posterior edge of orbit and the posterior five or six teeth being movable; two, occasionally three ventral teeth [# Pandalina-c ].
Carapace with antennal and pterygostomian spines.
Stylocerite broadly rounded, shorter than eye.
Scaphocerite outer border slightly convex, apical spine exceeding lamellar portion. Third maxilliped 1-1.2 x length of scaphocerite; epipod present.
Mandible with molar and incisor processes, and three- segmented palp with lateral lobe on proximal segment.
Pereiopods 1-4 with epipods, pereiopod 5 with setobranch. Pereiopod 1 minutely chelate. Pereiopod 2 asymmetrical: pereiopod 2 right: carpus of four segments; pereiopod 2 left: carpus of fourteen to twenty segments.
Dactylus of pereiopod 3 with subapical spine and four spines on the posterior margin [# Pandalina-d ].
Telson with six to nine pairs of lateral spines.
Remarks
P. brevirostris is a dioecious species. A closely related deep water species, Pandalina profunda, has been described by Holthuis (1946) and specimens from deep water localities (down to 1000 m) should be checked against this description.
Size:
Length up to 33 mm.
Colour:
Whitish or semi-translucent with orange and yellow chromatophores. Cardiac and branchial regions reddish.
Habitat:
Down to about 100 metres. Hyperbenthic species, may swim up at night, mostly confined to the nepheloid layer.
Ovigerous females occur from January to October.
Distribution in the North Sea:
All North Sea.
World distribution:
Ranges from Norway (up to 60°30'N) south into the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Also known from the Atlantic coast of Morocco.