Ophelia Rathkei
| Ophelia Rathkei | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ophelia Rathkei | ||||||||||||
| ( McIntosh , 1908) |
Ophelia rathkei is a small marine annelid worm from the genus Ophelia within the multi - bristle family of the Opheliidae .
features
Ophelia rathkei has a small spindle-shaped body with a cylindrical front body section. It becomes up to 8 mm long and then has about 25 segments , each with 4 to 6 superficial ringlets. The rear body section has an abdominal groove and two side grooves from the 7th to 8th segment. The very small, conical prostomium has 3 small eyes and 2 nuchal slits . The gills are finger-shaped and sit on both sides on about 9 bristle-bearing segments in the middle of the body, while the first 11 and the last 4 segments have no gills. The notopodia and neuropodia are small rounded lobes. All bristles are smooth and capillary-like, becoming very long at the posterior segments. The pygidium has a single thick papilla and on the dorsal side a circle of 4 to 10 much smaller papillae. The animal is whitish and transparent.
distribution and habitat
Ophelia rathkei is known from the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean including the North Sea and Baltic Sea . It lives in the sand of the intertidal zone and down to a depth of 12 m.
Web links
- MJ de Kluijver et al .: Ophelia rathkei (McIntosh, 1908). Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Polychaeta, Marine Species Identification Portal