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Pacific Arctic Benthic Species
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Nephasoma diaphanes (Gerould, 1913)

Distinguishing characteristics
Two retractors.
Transparent or translucent body wall.
Introvert shorter than the trunk with a few short tentacular lobes.
Scattered, spinelike hooks.
Immature specimens of other Nephasoma species might be (and very often are so the literature is full of unavoidable noise on this issue) easily mistaken with N. diaphanes.

Size
Common trunk length: 5 mm.
Maximum trunk length: 55 mm.


Color
Whitish, transparent or translucent body wall.

Habitat
It inhabits sand, silt, clay and mud.

Feeding
Deposit feeder.

Life cycle
Dioecious, probably trochophore larva.

More Biology & Ecology
It often lives in foraminiferan tests or small polychaete tubes. Larger shelter dwellers may have enlarged and darker posterior papillae. It is often the most common sipunculan in the deep water communities.

Distribution
Present from the wide range of bathymetric distribution; Very common in deep-sea communities.
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