Ophelina acuminata Örsted, 1843

Synonyms:
Ophelina acuminata Oersted, 1843
Ammotrypane ingebrigtsenii Kükenthal,1887
Ammotrypane aulogaster Rathke,1843; McIntosh, 1915

Distinguishing characteristics
Ventral groove present along whole body.
Branchiae from 2^nd chaetiger to almost and of body.
Pygidium with a spoon-shaped hood.

Species description
Body long, slender, vermiform, tapering at each end, with a continuous ventral groove. Prostomium conical, longer than wide, extending in a finger-like median process that is slightly swollen at its tip. Parapodia with small prechaetal lobes and small ventral cirri. Branchiae starting at chaetiger 2, absent in the last 2-3 chaetigers, long and cirriform. Pygidium with a spoon-shaped hood, open ventrally, whose margin is fringed posteriorly with 8-10 little finger-like processes. Within the hood, there are 2 large anal papillae with a single long cirrus between.

Size
Up to 60 mm for 50 segments.

Color
Yellowish to pearly grey with bright red gills.

Habitat
On sand or mud.
Eulittoral to 1500 m.

Mobility
Mobile.

Feeding
Subsurface deposit feeder.

Life cycle

Distribution
North Sea to Öresund, whole northern hemisphere, South Africa, New Caledonia, Australia.